All Things Work Together

What an amazing week!  Our t-shirt fundraiser did so well, even better than we hoped.  We sold 102 shirts and raised almost $1400 in shirt sales and donations.  If you bought a shirt or shared our campaign on Facebook, know that you made our week!  We were so encouraged every day as more people supported us in this way.  Our family and friends are just the best.

(BTW, if you wanted a shirt and didn't get one in time, we are planning to open the campaign again in the fall, maybe with a long sleeve version.  Visit the campaign site and click "I would buy this" to be notified the next time it's available.)

The verse that inspired the shirt (Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." NIV) is one we have been carrying close to our hearts as we wrestle with all the hard issues around adoption.  Welcoming this new person into our family, even though it will be amazing, will only be possible because of her pain, and her first family’s pain.  Celebrating and anticipating something that comes about because of someone else's pain is a hard thing to hold in your heart.  

We want so desperately to honor her whole story, even the hard parts, because we know it's often the hard parts that make a story beautiful.  Praise God that He is working all these things together, to get her, for good.