unexpected but not unlikely

So the blog has been adoption heavy lately. But there's just so much going on that I want to remember and I want Gabe to know about someday! Like this...

It was a Friday. Two Fridays ago to be exact.

I was resigned to sit by the computer or in the bed with the computer, and hopefully see a wave of LOA's stream in from China to my DTC Facebook buddies...and potentially ourselves. Jase is off on Fridays and so we made the executive decision to just veg all day. Love, love days like that. In my happy pants, sportin' a pony tail and letting the kids eat their weight in junk food.

No worries, we don't do this too often. So I didn't sweat it much.

Over coffee that morning, I asked Jase about what he felt like we should do about airfare to China. He shared with me that though we have been offered buddy passes from a friend, he didn't have peace about it. The thought of getting stranded in China was a real viable risk. Sure, it would save us a good bit of money. But China is the center of business in Asia...or so it seems. And we heard one horror story after another of adoptive families getting stuck in country with their new child...families who were flying way higher priority than we would be flying. Soooo...

He said that he really felt like we should just trust God to provide the finances to buy tickets. I felt so relieved...and nervous. That's a chunk of money. But I knew that Jase was right and I knew that God would have already had the details in place. I just wasn't sure what those details were.

We hopped on the computer to check fares for the end of October through mid November. That was WACAP's best guess for travel timelines. They came in right at $3500. Of course now that we are probably traveling in September, the price is $1000 higher. Argh. But, it is what it is. Back to the point...

Picture it with me, if you will. I'm lounging in the bed. Refreshing FB every few minutes hoping for an LOA rush like had happened two weeks prior on a Friday but instead, a private message notification is there instead...

From a couple telling us that they had been consistently going to the Lord in prayer about what their part would be in helping to bring Gabe home.

And what I read next brought me to tears.

And the ugly cry, y'all.

They feel led to purchase our airfare for China. 

Our airfare.

To China.

Can you imagine?

Me either.

Even now, that lump comes to my throat just thinking about it.

I can't fathom how the Lord does this. How He orchestrates the details and the timing of it all. I mean, at any point in the process, for this couple to have come to us and told us what they felt led to do...it would have been amazing. But knowing that Jase and I had just had the conversation three hours earlier...and that my husband had shared his conviction and set the tone for me to see what needed to happen...and that the Lord in His sovereignty let us walk through that conversation and come out on the other side with peace...only to provide the means three measly hours later, is just beyond me.

How great is our God?

This is just one instance of countless others where He has provided for this adoption. I don't know why I'm surprised, but I always am. That may prove a lack of faith on my part. Or maybe just reverent awe that He does what only He can do and when He does, it takes my breath away.

When I read the message, the ugly cry came and I just handed the Macbook to Jase who shed some tears of his own. He just kept saying, "It's so good, babe. It's so good. He provided." Over and over while I sobbed.

Then a few days later, a friend handed Jase a card with a $100 check in it for Gabe. Again, blown away by God's goodness and His faithfulness to use His people to accomplish His purposes. She didn't have to do that. But her heart is for adoption too and she felt led.

We even had a friend of a friend last week, to give my brother a note from someone he doesn't even know saying that they felt convicted that the Lord told them to give us $10 for our adoption.

You might ask, "What can $10 do when you still need several thousand?"

Enter Jesus. 

The scripture says that He fed 5000 men with a few loaves of bread and some fish. 

The Bible tells us that the widow's mite was worth more than all of the other's who had given greater offerings.

And it teaches that to obey is better than sacrifice. 

So what can $10 do when you still need several thousand?

Nothing. 

But our great God brought the world into existence from nothing. 

He specializes in creating something spectacular out of nothing.

Jase and I are so grateful to be walking this road again. To see God work. To have begun with nothing. Literally. And to now be weeks away from traveling to China, with so much having been provided, is overwhelming. Please continue to pray with us about the last details of our trip. We have many decisions to make and so many plans to finalize. But at the end of it all, is our Gabe. And we know that the Lord, who has shown us His hand from the beginning, will see us through every detail and every plan. To God be the glory, great things He has done!