Witness during adoption process
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
If finances are the biggest fear in adoption, then God’s provision might be the biggest lesson.
Southeast members Vince and Kelli Monks have two biological children, adopted two sons in Ethiopia last December and are waiting for final approval to adopt a daughter from
Ethiopia. They are not wealthy. Vince works at the Louisville Water Company while Kelli homeschools the children.
Vince said when they looked at the bottom-line cost of $35,000, it seemed overwhelming in the beginning but they filled out papers anyway.
“We learned that adoption actually has nothing to do with finances,” he said. “It has everything to do with God’s prompting to do something. If you say ‘yes’ to God, He will lead
you down paths you never thought possible.”
On Saturday, Sept. 17, Orphan Care Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to adopting and foster care families, will hold a free adoption seminar at
Southeast’s Blankenbaker Campus. Representatives of Orphan Care Alliance will cover different types of adoption with breakout sessions about funding, adoption myths,
making choices and choosing an agency.
As they began to research adoption options, the Monks attended a similar seminar in 2009.
That gave them hope and courage to follow through on what God called them to do.
Looking back, the Monks see that God had prepared them to adopt for a long time. In 2002, they simplified their lives, eliminating cable television to spend more time together
as a family, downsized to one car for a while and curtailed their schedule.
At the Orphan Care Alliance seminar, the Monks learned that they would not be alone in raising the funds to adopt. Grants and interest-free loans would help cover costs.
The Monks got creative with the balance.
Kelli made coasters that she sold for $5 each. That added $800 to their adoption fund. The family had yard sales and sponsored a pancake breakfast at Applebees. Kelli put a
donation button on her blog, and they sent letters to friends and family.
“Every donation was humbling,” Vince said. “But each one was a reminder that God was providing for our family.”
In the end, one-third of the money came from friends and family, one-third from Orphan Care Alliance and another third from their own savings.
Southeast member Amy Coleman, who volunteers with Orphan Care Alliance, said adoption fees are the biggest barrier to families considering adoption.
“Many give up, never realizing that help is available,” she said. “Time and time again, we see that when God puts adoption on a family’s heart, He provides. When families come
to Orphan Care Alliance, we give up to $4,000 in a matching grant and up to $10,000 in a covenant loan. And we walk alongside families as they adopt and parent.”
When Mark and Diane Shreve began raising funds to adopt two boys in Ethiopia, fees far exceeded their savings.
For years, Southeast supported them as missionaries to Papua New Guinea, where they translated Bible stories in the people’s heart language, trained leaders for the local
church and lived life with a remote tribe.
Now settled in Louisville, adoption is yet another adventure in faith.
After applying to adopt in Ethiopia through Arise for Children, they were matched with 7-year-old Yemisarach and 5-year-old Abel, 5, who will join their three biological children:
Noah, 8, Hadassah, 5, and Tizrah, 18 months.
The Shreves turned to friends in Couples for Christ Weekend Group to help raise funds. Rather than simply seeking donations, they partnered with a nonprofit organization
called Both Hands, which reaches out to widows while providing funds for adoption. It follows the model set forth in James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure
and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”
In the Both Hands program, adopting families enlist sponsors, who pledge money for the adoption. In return, the adoptive families pledge to help fix up the home of a widow in
need.
It was through Both Hands that the Shreves learned about Yenedesta, an Ethiopian-American widow who needed help after her husband died of cancer. Though she had
worked hard in food service at a downtown hotel to provide for her children, her home needed repairs and upgrades.
On Saturday, July 9, dozens of friends who heard about the outreach showed up at Yendesta’s house with tools in hand. Each one had asked their friends to sponsor that
workday to assist the Shreves’ adoption fund. Children served alongside their parents as they worked on Yenedesta’s yard, fixed railings and painted interior walls.
The money raised on that workday helped the Shreve’s meet their fund-raising goal, and a few weeks ago, the Shreves traveled to Ethiopia to meet Yemisrach and Abel.
“It was a sweet, surreal moment in time for us to meet our children,” Mark said. “We saw our normally shy toddler embrace them with pats and giggles as the children bonded.”
As Coleman said, God has been faithful to provide the funds the Shreves needed.
In addition to their own personal funds, donations from Both Hands project and LifeSong for Orphans, a grant from Orphan Care Alliance and a grant from Show Hope, Steven
Curtis Chapman’s adoption foundation, they are seeing financial needs met.
“We are grateful for all who have worked this journey with us—and to God, who is providing for all our needs. We were adopted by the King. Now we are adopting for the King.”