It's My Favorite Cookie!

How amazing it is to see God provide.

He does it his way... not ours.

When we started this adoption process we knew one thing for sure:  we knew God wanted us to adopt Karina.

How?

Now that is the question that only God could answer.  We did not know what he had in store.

We had always heard that international adoptions cost a lot of money and when we did the math we realized... yep... they do cost a lot of money.

We looked at the amount of money...

And we looked at our bank account.

Glanced over at the amount of money...

And glanced back at our bank account.

Laughed a little bit.

Maybe we cried a little bit inside.

Humanly speaking, there was absolutely no way.

We had no money.

Well, actually we had just enough money to take the first step... get the home study started.

So, we ignored the math and trusted that God would provide and began the home study.

Our bank account was quickly emptied... all we had saved was quickly emptied.

I thought I had a brilliant plan:  "Let's apply for some adoption grants from those organizations that want to help people adopt and let's take out one of those no interest loans for adoptions."

We looked at several different ones...

not qualified for this one...

nope, not that one...

not available in Ukraine...

not for independent adoptions....

nope.... nope.... nope.....

Finally we found one that we qualified for and filled out the lengthy application...

and we waited....

and waited....

and waited....

after the alloted time the website said to wait I sent an email:

"The allotted time has passed... we have not heard anything... when do you think we will know if we will get the no interest loan?"

Silence.

Hmmm.

What is God doing?

Exploring other options to make money.

Praying a lot.

Wait a few more weeks.

Contact organization again, "We applied a long time ago... have not heard... we leave soon... etc."

We finally hear back!!!

"Ummm, we lost your application.  We received it... we had it... but we lost it.... just found it... today.

So... we have your application... we will look at it and get back to you... oh, and we do not have any money for the loans."

We never heard back.

We never heard back because God's plan was better than ours.

You see, God decided that he would use a four year old boy to help provide the money we needed for the adoption.

In earlier blogs you may remember Anderson.

God wanted to teach us that he does not need us or our ideas or our plans.  He was going to do this his way.

I thought I would take out loans and apply for grants to get the money for the adoption.

God decided to use a four year old boy that had no money to provide a way for us to get what was needed.

Anderson told his mommy,

"Let's give them money to adopt Karina."

His mommy said,

"We do not have money to give them."

Anderson said, 

"Let's make cookies!"

And so it began.

Anderson and his family prayed, baked cookies and began talking.  They told everyone about Karina.  They told their friends, neighbors, church, co-workers, students, the local radio station, relatives... maybe everyone they met.

Because of this family people began buying cookies...

and then we had a bake sale...

and then people started giving...

and then an adoption fund was set up...

and more people began giving to the adoption fund...

and more people began praying... and encouraging us... and supporting us.... 

and then we went to Ukraine and brought Karina home.

God's way was better than our way.  It was more fun, too.

Many, many people prayed and gave to help with this adoption but it got started when a four year old began to pray.

Yesterday Anderson met Karina for the first time.

He walked in the door and said,

"Hi Karina.  My name is Anderson.  I have been praying for you.  Can I have a hug?"

Anderson and his two sisters, mom and grandmommy all came to see Karina.  She loved getting to see them.  He brought her pictures.  Karina drew a picture of him and gave it to him.  They visited for a few hours, ate lunch together, painted pictures and played.

After Anderson's family left, Karina saw a bag of cookies on the counter.

They were Karina Cookies:

The type of cookie that Anderson sold to hundreds of people.

Karina took a bite... and then another... she ate one cookie... and then she bit into another... she finished two cookies and said,

"Wow! It's my favorite cookie!"