The Good Wife

Okay.  So I'm pretty convinced that I wouldn't even be close to the person I am without my wife.  My eating would be different, my relationship with Jesus would be way different, I probably wouldn't have four kids, I probably would have never thought about adoption, and I am really sure that I would not have the friends I do if not for my wife. Well, at least they act like they like me and they're kind to my face(smiley face).  I really need to figure out how to get those faces on here.
The whole friend thing was realized in a big way in September of 2010 when we had our fundraiser for our first adoption.  We had a spaghetti supper complete with raffle prizes, and live music.  They said they served about 225 plates , so we figured a little over that, but seeing all those people come to support us was really AWESOME!!!!!  I really want to believe they all came to see me, the rock star, but I actually think they came because they like my wife and she seems to be a nicer person than me.
At the fundraiser I shared with  everyone our events that brought us to that point.  For those who weren't there, here it is.
My wife had known for a long time that she wanted to adopt.  She had mentioned it a couple of times to me and I had probably just blown it off the front of my brain to the back and didn't really think about it for years.  We used to go to concerts as a family a lot or with our awesome friends http://mizjean.blogspot.com/.  At these concerts they always have Compassion International or World Vision there since these christian artists are sponsors themselves.  They were always talking about how just $38 a month will provide so much for these children.  We heard it at every concert, so that was something else stuck in the back of my head, but that soon came forward when we decided as a family to sponsor a girl from Ethiopia.  And then a few months later our three children decided that they wanted to sponsor a boy from the Philippines, so now we have two. This was all taking place around the end of 2008 and throughout 2009.  During this time there would be times I would hear about taking care of the orphans or the fatherless through sermons or what I would read in devotions.  The end of 2009 Sarah talked a little more about adoption and I think she was praying for God to work in my heart.  Well the beginning of 2010 it all came to head.  The front of my brain,  that is.  You may remember that is when the earthquake in Haiti occurred and all the images of children that lost parents or were orphaned were plastered all over in my brain.  That's when I put it all together, everything that God had been trying to tell me.  I never saw Compassion International as something to help orphans, but now I see it as helping children to not become orphaned.  This is the time I told my wife, "it's time".  We started the paperwork in June of 2010, and in October of 2011 Judah came to our family in America.
I think one of my biggest hang ups was the whole cost of adoption.  We were in the process of doing the Dave Ramsey thing and becoming debt free, so adding $30,000 in that process was overwhelming.  That is where we told ourselves and God that we were leaving it in his hands.  He had provided for our family for the past fourteen years so why would he change now, right?  I wish I could tell you that we didn't worry one bit after that, but that would be a lie.  So going back to the fundraiser and seeing all those people there, and seeing all the hard work that our friends and family did to pull it off was amazing.  After that night our friends counted the money and we raised almost $12,000 in one night, crazy huh?  But that wasn't the end, throughout the end of the year funds still trickled in and nearly totaled $20,000.  We couldn't believe it.  After it was all said done through the fundraising and our savings we inccurred $0 in debt.  God is good.
Now after all that you would think that we would not question God's calling for us to adopt again, but here we are again in the same situation questioning the whole cost of it, that's it.  Not if we can handle five kids, or   handle the emotions of going through the unknowns in the adoption process, but the money.  Why?  I don't know.  Maybe human nature or maybe being selfish?  I really don't know.  I hope I gave you a little glimpse of  how Sarah is a good wife for me, and how in reality she's the BEST wife for me.

I think in the next few weeks I'll unveil our fundraising plan this time, we'll see how much more I want to say before that.

I'll leave you with a little video of our Awesome son Judah.

Rock out,
J