Based on previous comments, maybe I should tell you now to find your tissues...

I can remember stating multiple times before we started this adoption process..."We would adopt now if it just wasn't so expensive!" Excuses, excuses! Little did I know, this was just my own disobedient heart and unfaithfulness showing it's ugly self to the world! (My mouth does that a lot...shows my verbally uncontrolled side, that is!)

Let me be totally transparent with you: Kenny & I are not independently wealthy. We haven't recently won the lottery, don't own a money tree, haven't obtained any sort of inheritance from a deceased relative, been given a job promotion, or been made privy to information that would make any sort of betting profitable for us...Needless to say, when God finally got through to us and we made the decision to begin the adoption, we didn't have the $20,000 to $30,000 we knew we would probably need, just laying around. #1 stressor for me as we started this process: We are obviously nuts...how in the world are we going to pay for this!!??

God has TOTALLY blessed us and provided for us throughout this ENTIRE process...and always just at the right time. I can remember sitting in the office of our adoption agency towards the end of October, crying, and wondering just how this was going to work. I vividly recall thinking, "God, you called us to this...now what?" "Have faith, my child, and trust in me and me alone." Just weeks later, we got news of a matching grant and were able to send out support letters to friends and family, letting them know of our intentions to adopt and need for support. (This, of course, came on the heels of several fundraisers by Kenny's office!!) We received so much unexpected support through the letters alone...and just last week, received news of a 2nd matching grant!! With news of the 2nd grant, that put us in a position to be able to pay our adoption agency IN FULL for BOTH adoptions!! How awesome is it to know that our God knew from the very beginning that He had TWO boys waiting for us!! He knew we would need the funds to pay for TWO adoptions!! He knew we would need TWO grants!!

But we still needed funds to pay for travel for 2 to Ethiopia and for 4 back to the United States...

So, here's the kicker: Saturday night while at a Christmas Party, we received news that made my heart beat so fast I thought I might be sick. I'm literally shaking as I type this just thinking about it again. (...Where's my kleenex?) A gift was given to us that, along with matching funds from this individual's employer, will probably cover most of our travel costs to and from Ethiopia for all four of us!!!!! There goes my heart again...

I don't really feel like I can convey via blog just how excited we are; just how blessed we feel!! I also don't feel like I could ever put into words what this type of experience does to your faith........... FAITH!! This whole process has been based on faith and is extremely humbling...to say to our friends and family, we can't do this on our own and have the response that we have had, is overwhelming to say the least! And we could say thanks a million times to the people who have helped us bring home our boys, but know that it was just God using each of those people in a very special way.

Let me also just remind you that most of this has taken place since November 14th, just barely over a month!!

We still have some fees, post placement visits and readoption/attorney fees once back in the States with the boys, but it is incredibly refreshing and a huge burden lifted from our shoulders to know that this part of our journey is almost behind us!! I see the light...

Please, please let our story be a testimony to how God will provide for you in the most unexpected ways if you will only trust Him. And don't get me wrong, this isn't a story about how big Kenny & Jana's faith is...this is a story about how God took our tiny, pathetic faith and grew it into a story that we and our boys can hopefully use for a lifetime to show what a BIG God we serve! If your only excuse for not adopting is money, then shame on you! (I've been in your shoes; I can say that to you!) Our Almighty God already has a plan for each orphan in each country in each city...that plan could include YOU if you would only step out and trust that He will make a way!

I can't wait until the boys are old enough to truly understand the story of how they were brought home...they are starting their lives as Cook's with an amazing testimony that I pray they will carry with them throughout their lives!