God is beyond awesome!

Spent some time praying today--asking God to please help me be patient as we wait for our LOA, asking God to please provide the needed monies to bring Jonathan home...

Fast forward two hours later, I went to get the mail. I was actually hoping we would get a letter from one of the grant foundations we have applied to, but a quick scan of the mail and I saw we didn't. But we did have an envelope addressed to The Shafer Family. No postage, just our name typed on the front- so someone had to hand deliver this envelope. I opened it and was amazed to find a typed paper that said "Please accept this gift to help bring little Jonathan home" and then there are about 6 Bible verses about how God loves children and caring for the orphans, then I saw a bank check written out to us for a rather large amount. It is a mystery to me who could have given it to us, I think it may be our neighbor across the street, but whoever gave it to us apparently wanted to do it anonymously (and here I am posting it for the world to see).

I cried, I called Jeremy and told him, I showed the kids-- God is so awesome. As we have been on this journey it has been amazing to see how God is meeting our needs. We received a check a few weeks ago from a good friend in Rochester. This friend is elderly, has little income, is not connected to the internet (so she can't read our blog or know of our financial need) but a few days after I shared with her that we were adopting we received a check from her to go toward getting Jonathan home. She didn't know our need, but rather God must have spoken to this women and she gave what she had. God is using people, who I never would have expected, to help us bring Jonathan home. All praise goes to Him! Our garage sale also yielded a few families giving donations to our Jonathan fund. What a great testimony of God's faithfulness to not only us, but our children as they witness God at work.

We don't like talking about the financial aspect of our adoption, but this anonymous gift has opened the door to do just that. Many have asked why it costs so much. We are not buying Jonathan. We do need finances to pay Bethany for their services in coordinating the adoption and being our representative to the Chinese adoption affairs, we have had to pay for different approvals through US immigration, we will need to pay for our plane tickets, visas, hotel and our in country guides and travel, we will also be making a donation to the orphanage that Jonathan is connected with. We will also need to pay for Jonathan's medical examination and visa before he can leave the country and the fees associated with completing the adoption paperwork in China.

When we started this journey, we started it in faith not knowing how we were going to pay for everything. God knew and He has consistently provided through grants, individuals, the yard sale and through us tightening our own financial belt. I am amazed as I look back and see God has met every need before the money was needed. We are in the home stretch, we currently need less then $10,000 to complete the adoption. That number seems big, our personal finances are stretched, but God already knows where that money is going to come from. It is so exciting to be in God's will and watch him meet this need. I can't imagine Jonathan not becoming a part of our family, he already is. God will complete what He has started.