Ian's door to his forever home is open....
We are VERY CLOSE to court and bringing him home. VERY.
Within six weeks very...
Ian's bed, the first one in his life that will be his own, is made and waiting for him to sleep in
Ian's lunch tote is ready, at first for picnics with his family, and then for school, for the first time in his life
Ian's brother is ready, playing alone right now, but praying and asking everyday for Ian to come home
Ian's mommy and daddy are ready for their son, they have worn orange "hopeforian" bands for almost a year, daddy in fact has worn the same one, everyday, and never taken it off.
Ian's clothes hang in the closet, the first clothes he will ever have that belong to him. His first pair of shoes just waiting to be bought
Ian's chair at the kitchen table has been waiting for him for almost a year, his photograph hangs on the wall above, with Ari's
God, please, bring Ian finally home through this open door.
He has waited too long.
Our final dossier is in Ian's country. We expect to travel for court within 4 weeks, and 10 days later, return to bring Ian home. We have been told by our agency to prepare for first week in July court date.
Time is fleeting, we are at this hour, "just" $8,835.00 (UPDATE: as of June 21, we need just $5,671.00!) short of what we need to, as we say in the south - Git-R-Done! (humor sustains us:)
Seems like a lot, but not for God.
He has already provided more than $23,000.00 in donations for an adoption that will come close to a $50,000 price tag.
Ian's nation being among the most expensive and longest from start to finish.
I recently watched a Christian program, and the message was about the importance of God. What you spend your time on each day says what is important to you that day. The speaker challenged those listening to take stock of his or her time, and what it is spent on. I envy those who study God and spend time with him each day without excuse. This is where I am working to be - in his word and doing his work, everyday - making HIM the most important thing in the life he gave to me. Still, I feel like hitting the pavement for Ian, to rescue an orphan
is in part, putting God first and making his message to us to care for one another, the most important part of my day. I know though, that we can't do it alone.
Today, will you step forward for a little orphan boy, making HIM the most important part of your day, and spend it advocating with every single person you can talk to, email, call, meet up with, write a letter to, facebook, etc.......will you talk about God with them? Will you ask them to donate ANY AMOUNT to allow Ian to walk out of an orphanage for the last time and into his forever family? God can move this mountain, and fast, but we must be responsible to open the door.
We need people to dig deep, to step up, to challenge the devil and show him what Love is made of. What happens if we don't raise this money now? To tell the absolute truth, if we would miss our court date because we didn't have the money, Ian will very likely pass away within a year or two. He will be transferred to an institution that he cannot be adopted out of, and he will die there. He will face multiple surgeries, one major, in his country (that alone could be it for him), and our hearts will be broken forever. We would never have the chance to adopt him again (if we missed court because we could not come up with the money needed). It would be devastating.
To tell another absolute truth, we could put this almost $9,000 on a credit card and carry that debt until the adoption credit comes through next year at tax time, and we would, if the day came to travel and we had not raised this last eight thousand dollars. We will NOT let Ian be sent on the car ride, and we will not miss our court date...he is our son already in our hearts and we would go to ends of the earth for him.
We do not want to do that however, because we know for certain that Ian is facing multiple surgeries, and when that time comes, we will be faced with insurance co-pays of 10%. What does heart surgery cost these days? $100,000? That would be a $10K co-payment. Leave time from work, COBRA costs, Ian's schooling, Ari's treatment (which incidentally Autism is NOT covered by insurance), and on and on. So, we yes, we could put it on a credit card and call it done but we have prayed about this and God's answer was to us was to go to his people for this last little bit to get Ian home, so we have what we need to cover Ian's surgeries when he comes home. Imagine trying to fund raise for that.
We beg for our Christian family to step forward and help us answer God's call to care for orphans. We are bringing Ian into our home forever. He may never live on his own, but that does not matter to us - what matters is that he LIVE, and he and we need all of you and everyone you know, to stop for a moment and make hearing about Ian and a need that is being shown, the most important part of your day in the coming week.
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ALL DONATIONS CAN/SHOULD BE GIVEN NOW THROUGH REECE'S RAINBOW EITHER VIA INTERNET BY CLICKING HERE, OR VIA CHECK WITH NOTE IN THE MEMO LINE" FOR IAN/STEWART FAMILY" and mailed to: Reece's Rainbow, P.O Box 4024, Gaithersburg, MD, 20885.
All we can do is say Thank you and bless you for reading this post and for taking action, today, or first thing tomorrow. We are in constant prayer as we feel we are in the valley. We are in constant prayer when we are in not in the valley too, so when times like this come upon us, we can still rejoice and be so deeply thankful for all that he have been given by God. He is our deliverer through everything.
There are at least FOUR wonderful families that are currently running fund raisers for Ian, and many others that have stepped up along the way! Spreading the word about their efforts will help Ian get home too. Thank you to these brave people who chose to make Ian the most important part of their month, let alone their day! We love ya'll!
