BRITTANY'S HOPE UPDATE

UPDATE 8.20.18:  We've reached our goal!!  Thank you so, SO much!!  Click here to go to our GoFundMe page for the most up-to-date numbers on our adoption fundraising efforts!

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I just dropped two more grant applications in the mail today.  I have two more half-finished on the kitchen counter.  I still have to write adoption testimonies for them, cover letters, copies of our 1040s and W2s, and I can't forget the reference letters...  I've never bared-all financially so much before in my life.

Money can be such a finicky thing.  Brad and I realized that we were both worrying about it too much and talking about it too much when Abilene brought down the money you see in the above picture to Brad one night after dinner.

"What's this?" Brad asked.

Abi sheepishly shrugged her shoulders and motioned for Brad to keep it.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Brad clarified.

Again, no words, just a shy head tip.

"Is it for the adoption?" Brad questioned.

Abi's head nodded up and down.

Brad and I's hearts both melted and hurt.  It was one of the sweetest things we'd ever seen her do but we also knew that our dinner conversation provoked it.

This actually happened back in the spring, May 29th, to be exact.

The bills from our adoption agency can come in some pretty big (think nice-used-car-sized) chunks.  Brad and I were anticipating the next bill to be even-nicer-used-car-sized and we were getting anxious.  Did we have the money to cover it?  Technically.  But it would mean using our emergency fund - the fund set aside for just that - emergencies.  That fund had eased a lot of fears over the years.  In fact, we'd never had to use it (praise the Lord).  It sat for almost a decade, waiting for something unfortunate and unpredictable.  Depleting in one fell swoop what took us 10 years to save was scary for us, and so it became our dinner conversation.

Our hearts hurt because the reality of our conversation was that, yes, we were scared, and, yes, we didn't know where money to pay the rest of the adoption would come from (our emergency fund wasn't that big) but in no way did we feel as though what we were doing was a mistake, or that we would lose our home, or not be able to put food on our table... well, as long as that unplanned and unpredictable emergency didn't come along.

Brad and I had both come to terms that adopting was worth it, that trusting God was worth it.  But that's not what was said out loud that night over the dinner table.  And so a little girl listened to our one-sided conversation and decided she was willing to give up her savings too.

Brad, with tears in his eyes, tried to convince her that it would be okay, that she didn't need to sacrifice her $12 and change for the adoption, but Abi refused.  She would not, for any reason, let us return the money.

I took a picture of the money and wrote down what happened so I wouldn't forget what she did that night.  It reminded me of the widow's mite from Luke 21:1-4, it convicted me of my own attitude, and it encouraged me for what was to come.

Thank you for being more Abi's to myself and to Brad.  Your generosity is humbling and beautiful and awe-inspiring.

You're helping to change the life of more than just one child, you're changing the lives of a whole family.  And we can't thank you enough.

Once we raise $3,000,  Brittany's Hope will generously grant us $6,000 toward our adoption expenses.

Thank you for helping us inch closer and closer to a child in China.  We can't wait to have them meet you.

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Find out more about more about how Brittany's Hope works in our blog post here.