STRICKLAND ADOPTION PUZZLE FUNDRAISER!

According to the ABBA Fund website, 33% of Americans have considered adoption.  79% of those are concerned about the costs of adoption.  Less than 2% of those adopt.  Just let that one sink in for a moment.  When we first began to talk about adoption, we knew it would be expensive, but we did not know just how expensive.  The number that we are looking at is around $30,000.  When I first heard this number, my first response might have been...

That number is absolutely impossible for us!  Yet we know that nothing is impossible for God.  We also know that God sometimes meets needs through the generosity of others.  When we surrendered to the call to adopt, we knew that we would have to do fundraisers in order for this to be a reality. Yet there is nothing more humbling and scary than having to ask others for money.  THANKFULLY, WE WERE REMINDED THAT WE ARE NOT ASKING PEOPLE FOR MONEY, BUT ARE ASKING PEOPLE TO BE A PART OF OUR STORY - TO BE A PIECE OF OUR PUZZLE!

THEREFORE, WE ARE EXCITED TO INTRODUCE OUR PUZZLE FUNDRAISER!

Here's how it works:

• We had a good friend create an image that is very meaningful to us.  We then took this image and had it made into 700 + piece puzzle.  Every piece of this puzzle symbolizes someone who will help us bring our son home.  HERE IS OUR PUZZLE!

• We are "selling" each piece for a minimum donation of $20.  You can choose to be one piece of the puzzle or you can be several pieces of the puzzle.
• Once you purchase a piece, YOUR NAME will be written on the back of the puzzle piece.  

• After the puzzle is completed, we will frame the puzzle between two pieces of glass and hang it in our child's room.  This will be a wonderful and lasting reminder of every person who helped to bring our son home.  
• To purchase a puzzle piece via PayPal, click the "Donate" button that is in the right column of our blog or, if your don't yet trust the internet, you can email me at (micahstrickland@comcast.net) for our address and send a check in the mail.
• On Sunday, November 2nd, we will be celebrating Orphan Sunday at FBC Oceanway.  On this day, we will have puzzle pieces available to help bring "our little orphan" home.

We would be so honored for you to be a piece of our story.  Thank you in advance for your support and you prayers!  #StricklandFamilyAdoption   #AdoptionIsRedemption

"When a family seeks helps in raising funds for an adoption, it's not like asking people to pitch in toward a new boat, or help pay for a vacation.  What they are doing is committing to heal, with God's help, a child who has suffered the profound damage of being unwanted and unloved.  They are obediently living out the command given in James 1:27 to care for the orphan, clothing the gospel of Christ's redemption in flesh and blood and now.  When they ask for the body of Christ to come alongside them financially and prayerfully, they are giving us the opportunity to be a part of the miracles God works through obedience." - Ashley Paradis Moreno

The Journey of a Eight Thousand Miles

The calling of adoption is truly a journey – a long, difficult, uphill both ways kind of journey.  It begins when God places a seed of desire (and hope) into a person’s heart.  It continues when a couple (or individual) answers the call of God to care for the orphan through adoption.  YET, THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CALL OR EVEN THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CALL IN NO WAY MARKS THE END OF THE ADOPTION PROCESS BUT ONLY ITS BEGINNING.  We have had many conversations lately with people who innocently assumed that because we had announced that we were adopting, then the child must certainly be on the way.  In the words of the Esurance commercial: “That’s not how it works!  That’s not how any of this works!”  Therefore, I wanted to give everyone a glimpse of where we are in this journey and what the timeline typically looks like for Indian adoption.  It’s also important to understand that the adoption timeline is subject to change for many reasons and at any time.

Earlier this summer, we began the process of choosing an adoption agency that had successful experiences with Indian adoptions.  The sad reality is that only 1,866 Indian children have been adopted by families living outside of India since 2010 (with only 660 of those being adopted in America).  In fact, there were only 119 children adopted to the U.S. from India in 2013.  Although these numbers are enough to make anyone second guess God’s calling, we held firm believing that God was indeed leading us to adopt from India.  In August, we decided to go with Dillon International, an adoption agency in Tulsa, OK.  They have been adopting children to the U.S. from India since 1980. The more we researched them and learned of their heart for God and for the orphan, the more at peace we were with entrusting the steps of journey to them.

 Not long after contacting Dillon, we received more information and more paperwork than we could ever have imagined.  We got through the initial application fairly quickly and were approved the same day that our paperwork arrived.  Then came the daunting task of our Home Study Application (which normally takes a few months to complete).  By the grace of God, we got through it in exactly one month and we have been approved to begin our Home Study.  Yeah!!!  Unfortunately, we are not able to move forward at this time because of the finances.  We are required to pay around $7,000 upfront to get our Home Study going.  Although this is a daunting number which truly exceeds what’s in our bank account at this moment, we are believing God to do that which is impossible for us. 

Once we are able to begin the Home Study, the process should take up to three months.  Once we are approved, then comes the most difficult part of waiting for a child to be referred to us.  As in many countries, the only children that are available for US citizens are children with minimal to severe special needs.  When we started with Dillon, we were asked to fill out a lengthy questionnaire which required us to list what type of needs we would be willing to consider.  And just let that statement sink in for a second!  Although this was by far the most overwhelming thing we have done up to this point, Misti and I were in perfect agreement that we are willing to accept a child with minor to correctible special needs.  The hard part is going to be waiting for a child that matches our questionnaire.  This process could take up to a year (and even longer). 

Once we do finally receive a referral, we will have a few weeks to take all the information and meet with our pediatrician as well as spend a lot of time in concentrated prayer with our family and our Faith Family.  Once we approve the referral, then we wait up to 18 months to be able to bring our son home.  The whole adoption process could last as long as 24-36 months.  Although we are praying that somehow this process will go quicker, we are also preparing ourselves for the longest wait of our lives. 

We ask that you continue to pray with us and for us as we wait upon the Lord.  We will be making an announcement soon concerning a Fund Raiser that will help with our adoption costs.  Again, we do not want our adoption to be a burden to any of you, but to be a blessing to anyone that is willing to walk alongside of us in this journey.  We have started this journey and we will not stop until we are at home with our son!  #stricklandfamilyadoption #adoptionisredemption

An Open Book?

Have you ever met someone who did not mind sharing all of there personal information with you?  If you have a Facebook account, then you have definitely met those people (and maybe you are those people).  If you are, thank you for the entertainment you provide:-).  Well, in case you do not know us, we are not those people.  I don't know if its just my personality or if it is the fact that I grew up as a Pastor's kid, but I am normally not very comfortable sharing personal information with others.  Now that I am a pastor, it is very difficult for me and my family to open up and share our lives with others.  Our walls do not come down easily.  

And then we were led to adopt!  And everything has changed.  In the past three months, we have been forced to open our lives up like never before.  We have been asked questions about our family...questions about our marriage...questions about health...questions about our finances...questions about our parenting philosophy...questions about our spiritual beliefs...questions about the type of child we desire...and questions about how we will love and care for a child that is not biologically ours.  And in answering these questions, we have been forced to let total strangers into very private areas of our life.  If not for the calling of God over our lives and the grace of God in our lives, it would have been easy for us run away from all of the prying and run back to a place of privacy and security. 

Yet, retreating is no longer an option for us!  For we know that there is a little boy in India, who we have never met, yet our hearts are filled with love for him and our hearts ache at the thought of being separated from him.  We have no idea whether he has even been born, yet he is growing in our hearts and is running through our minds in ways that are impossible for us to even explain.  As we pray for him and as our hearts ache for him, we know that we must be able to do whatever it takes to bring him home.  Even if it means putting ourselves (and our business) out there for the world to see.  We will do whatever it takes!

With that said, the Strickland family is inviting you into our lives - and into our adoption journey.  Not only do we want people to follow our story (so that God may be glorified in it all); we need people who will stand behind us and walk beside us every step of the way. We know that God has called us to do what is impossible for us, yet we are very thankful that all things are very possible for Him.  I pray that our lives and our story will not become burdensome to you, but will be a blessing and a reminder of the goodness and grace of God to us all! #ADOPTIONISREDEMPTION