Referral!!!!

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.  Romans 8:28

These are the words I have written out attached above the picture of our precious 3 year old son.  After over a year of waiting for a referral we received a call from our adoption agency about two weeks ago and heard the words, "Well, it's a boy!"  God's timing couldn't have been sweeter.  Just that afternoon I had been driving home from work wondering if we would ever hear anything.  I checked my email when I got home and had another email from an adoption website telling me there was a child that might be a good match for us.  Once again, it was through another agency and not from Ghana.  As I was clicking on the red circle to exit my internet browser my phone rang.  It was our adoption agency.  "They never call, they always email.  Could this be the call we've been waiting for?!" were the thoughts spiraling through my head.  I picked up the phone and received the good news.  I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement and could hear the excitement from all the workers at our agency as they were gathered together to tell us the good news.  

As soon as I hung up the phone I called Ryan, who was at work.  Of course, he wasn't able to answer the phone!  I was running around the house saying, "We have a son, we have a son!"  But, I couldn't tell anyone because I couldn't get in touch with Ryan.  My dog had the only ears I could talk to at the time.  So, what did this crazy woman filled with excitement and good news do?  You're right, I opened up our backdoor and yelled for my dog to come in and began petting her and telling her she was going to have a brother.  Yes, I'm crazy.  She had no clue what was going on, but enjoyed the petting and attention, of course. = )  (Ryan did finally call me back and was so excited.  Who knows how many phone calls we made that afternoon.  Those were some of the best phone calls of my life.  I don't think I slept much that night, but you don't need sleep when you're on Cloud 9.  I think I had actually bypassed Cloud 9 and shot straight to Cloud 100 or something.)

I immediately began thanking God for his goodness.  From the beginning we've known we were following the will of God with our adoption journey.  He has made it evident in so many ways.  The verse I began this post with says it all.  We were called by God to adopt.  We have trusted Him and loved a child we knew nothing about.  All along, even when we grew faint and weary God has been working for the good of our family and this journey.  It's my prayer that God would be glorified through the rest of this journey, our little boy's life, and the start and growth of our family.  I am so happy that I have a face to pray for now.  He is precious in so many ways.  His little hands, his little feet, his smile, and the happiness that seems to radiate from him in that little picture I carry in my purse. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  

We were told things may go fast from this point on.  I say, bring it!  Our in country partner may be able to go to court for us as early as mid-October.  We could go meet our little one for the first time as early as November.  From then we would be looking at a 3-5 month wait period until we get to go back to Ghana and bring him home.  I pray that things would go swiftly and that we would cling to God and His promises even if the rest of our journey doesn't go as planned or takes a little longer.  I'm excited about the next chapter of our adoption journey.  I feel like this past chapter has been more like a novel in length.  Through it all, God was working.  That is enough to make it all worth it.  That precious boy is enough to make every moment worth it.

An Encouragement on Mother's Day

I had the privilege of sharing our adoption story and my journey, in particular, over the past two years.  Here is what I shared in church this morning for Mother's Day...

Almost two years ago Ryan and I decided to start the adoption process.  We’d always talked about adopting at some point, but we never knew we’d see it as our first option.  Ryan and I, up until that point, had not tried to start a family in any way (adoption, conception, fostering, etc.).  When we read Russell Moore’s book, Adopted for Life, and began studying God’s calling for every believer to care for the orphan, it was clear to us, that our care for the orphan was to adopt an orphan.  We never knew this would be our first choice, but time and time again God continued to grow a fervent passion in our hearts for adoption.  We had always heard about people adopting after having biological kids, or adopting because they struggled with infertility, but to adopt before even trying to conceive or knowing anything about fertility?  God’s plan for us was different.  We were ecstatic!  To use adoption to really relay the message of God’s adoption of us was exciting to think about.  God has adopted us into His kingdom.  Us: wandering, fatherless, children without an eternal home.  Adoption is such a pure example of this.

People told me in the beginning that adoption is not for the faint of heart.  Boy, were they right.  We have been blessed in so many ways in the past two years, and I, as a woman, have been tested in so many ways in the past two years.  God has been faithful and good, but there have been times where I have been very weak.  You see, when Ryan and I decided to start the adoption process we also decided that we wouldn’t do anything to prevent a pregnancy.  Well, in my head our adoption was going to go quickly, and if it didn’t I would probably get pregnant in the meantime and we’d still get to start our family soon.  God’s plan was different, though.  Don’t take that the wrong way, we were still going to adopt.  We have a heavy heart for adoption and that truly is our Plan A.  Even with this great passion and longing to adopt the enemy can still attack.  In the midst of a joyous journey there have been times of darkness; times where my selfish flesh has taken over and pitied myself for not getting pregnant or for our adoption taking so long.  God has reminded me time and time again in His word, though to “rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)  He also has reminded me to rejoice in my suffering because it builds character and endurance. 

When I start to feel sorry for myself, I’m reminded of MY mom.  A woman who has lived through more difficult mother’s days than I’d care to battle.  11 years until adopting a child, 14 years of infertility, a mother’s day after losing her own mom, several mother’s days where my brother was in jail or at an addiction treatment center, a mother’s day after losing this same older brother when he was only 20, and now, a mother’s day where she is the legal guardian of my 10 year old nephew.  Through all those difficult mother’s days she has remained unwavering in her faithfulness to God and He has remained faithful to her.   I know without a shadow of a doubt that God has led us to adopt.  I know that God is truly going to use our journey for His glory.  I know today is a difficult day for any woman who is in the middle of an adoption process, battling infertility, lost a mother or a child, or for the woman who is waiting patiently on her mate in order to start a family.  But, God is faithful, all knowing, and good.  He knows the desires of our hearts.

God Equips Who He Calls

I am a firm believer that God doesn't necessarily call those who are already equipped with all the skills, finances, etc. needed, but He will always equip those He calls.  If those the world saw as equipped were always the ones to build great things, go and seek disciples on the other side of the world, or enter into the tremendously expensive process of adoption why would the world have any reason to give God glory?  It would be too practical and too predictable.  But when God does great things with someone so small who the world would never expect to accomplish a given task, that's where the greatness of God is glorified.  What does this have to do with our adoption?  We were/are that couple that in no way was equipped to tackle the daunting financials of an adoption.  When we started the process Ryan was in seminary working on his masters and I was about to begin my 3rd year of teaching; we had a pathetic $1000-2000 in savings.   Today God has provided us with enough funds to have met our goal of $24,000.  We are amazed at God's provision and know without a shadow of a doubt the God LOVES THE ORPHAN!

How did all this come about?  Did a check just show up in our mail box for $22,000 one day?  Definitely not.  But, to us it has felt just like that.  When we needed money we had it.  We never had to put any step of our adoption on hold because of money.  God has placed people, businesses, organizations, fundraising opportunities, grants, friends, and family (biological and church family) in our life that He has used to provide us with these funds.  So many people are a part of our adoption process and we can't wait to show our child how many people loved and cared about him/her and wanted to be a part of our family's formation.

I am truly overwhelmed with joy knowing that we have all the finances we need to complete our adoption.  At the same time I am overcome with a deep longing, knowing that our child is somewhere in Ghana waiting for us.  We haven't received a referral yet and are waiting patiently (most days...let's just keep it real...some days I'm not patient at all).  I know that my Heavenly Father has everything planned out perfectly and I have to hold on tightly to that.  He is watching over our child and loves that child more than anyone ever could.

Please pray for our adoption process to speed up and for the Lord to guard our hearts and protect our emotions during all of it.  We are so thankful to have a network of prayer warriors behind us.

~Sarah
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."  John 14:18

Let the Wait Begin...

Our dossier arrived in Ghana a few weeks ago and since then we've been waiting.  We know the wait for a referral might be a long one, but we keep reminding ourselves it's worth the wait.  We know the Lord has a precious child that will soon become a part of our family.  As much as we wish we knew who this child was, what they looked like, how old they were, among other things, we are so glad that we have a Maker who already knows every bit of this information.  While this makes the wait easier (knowing this adoption is God's will), my human tendency to have everything done in my timing sets in from time to time.  Well, let's be honest...I deal with this up and down turmoil of feelings quite frequently.  And as I'm writing this entry the song that is playing on the television is "It is well."  What a great reminder.  There are times of sorrow as we long for our family that is not united quite yet, but in this all, it is well.  There is joy and a great story and journey that is happening.  Through and in all of it may God have the glory.

You can help us by praying for the following things:
~ A speedy referral
~ A means for funds (we have some upcoming fundraising events)
~ My emotions during this long waiting period
~ All the other families that are awaiting adoptions
~ The 147 million orphans around the world

Thanks for following our journey!
~Sarah

Dossier almost complete!!!

I'm waiting on a copy of our doctor's license to practice medicine and then we'll officially have all the documents we THINK we need for our dossier. Hopefully we have it all and it looks good. Then we'll get everything notarized and send it off for the "fine-tooth-comb-lookover"...o​h yeah...accompanied by a huge wad of $$$.


We also are applying for an adoption grant.  Pray that the organization would see our need for financial help.  From this point on there are going to be a lot more expenses, but we know how great God's provision is for His children.

Hooray for checks on the checklist!

A few weeks ago we received our completed HomeStudy in the mail.  It is so beautiful and official with its signatures and seals.  In about 10 pages our lives, goals, and home were summed up for the Dept. of Social Welfare in Ghana and for our Citizenship and Immigration Services here in the US.  It was neat looking over the whole report.  I have to say we look pretty good on paper...almost as good as we look in person. ;)    Receiving that report in the mail reminded me of God's greatness and provision (1. He provided us with a home for our HOMEstudy (provision) (2.)  He, our adoptive Father, could NEVER be summed up in 10 pages (greatness) (3.) He allowed us to begin and complete this process long before we thought it would happen (provision)).  He is so good!  

Now, we are going down our "Dossier Progress Chart for Ghana" and, remarkably, seeing a lot of checks in that "Completed" column.  It is great to see how quickly God is taking us through this process.  What an evidence that this is God's will.  Since we officially began this process in October with our agency we have seen confirmation after confirmation that God loves orphans and He wants to use us to give one of His children a home.  Wow...what a privilege to be used by God!

As we continue collecting items/forms for our dossier and enter into the time of waiting for our referral please remember to pray for us.  Pray that we would have patience as we wait.  Pray we would remember that God's timing is far better than our timing.  Pray that we would remember that this is all under God's power, not our own.  Pray that the Government agencies and departments we have to submit forms through would find favor with us and act quickly.

Thanks for your prayers and continued support.  We'll update when the dossier is off and ready to go!

Sarah

Home Study Here We Come...Take 2!

We only have one more interview left for our Home Study to be complete and we are absolutely pumped!  We ended up having to wait a lot longer than we expected for the start of this process.  When I last posted we were planning on moving into a cute little rental house the end of January.  We thought we would have everything ready to start the Home Study no later than mid-February.  Oh how things change!  We ended up canceling our lease with the rental house (there were many unfortunate circumstances that caused us to make this decision) and...well...buying a house.  We know our new home was all a part of God's perfect plan and are so thankful.  After finally being in our home a month, our home study started this past Monday and we'll be done by next Wednesday.  The agency told us to allow 4-6 weeks for the home study to be completed.  We were happy to hear we'd have all our interviews complete within a week and a half.  Our social worker is great and has made this part of the process stress-free and very laid back.  Hopefully she'll find us fit to be parents! = )

Now that we're near the end of our home study we're starting to collect all the information we need for the dossier  (a set of appropriately authenticated and translated legal documents which are used in international adoption cases to process the adoption of a child in its own country by the adoptive parents, or for the adoptive parents to obtain the legal custody or guardianship of the child in the foreign court, so the child can be brought by the adoptive parents to the United States for adoption. Just in case you ever wondered what adopting families were talking about when they discussed the "dossier.")  Looking at our dossier checklist, in comparison with other countries, a list of 14 seems very simple.  We're thankful that much of the information we need will be easily obtainable and hopefully we'll have everything put together to send off soon.  We're praying the Georgia Dept. of Vital Records will act quickly.  Birth and marriage certificates sometimes can hold up the process.  


I've recently been day-dreaming a lot about our future family.  I am so looking forward to having a little one walking or crawling around (all depends on the age).  It's amazing to me to look around and see how God brings families together in so many different and unique ways.  I'm looking forward to seeing our whole "family-making story" from start to finish.  My hope is that through each step we can give God the glory, no matter how up and down the journey may be.


Prayer Requests: 1) pray for the wrapping up of our home study 2) pray that we would be able to follow the directions for our dossier completely and thoroughly so we won't have to back-track 3) pray that we would have patience and trust the Lord's timing 4) pray that we would remember to keep Christ the center of our marriage and family; this is His adoption!

Home Study...Here We Come!

God has really been at work in order to create a way for us to move forward with our adoption.  We were told that it would be in our best interest to either get out of our lease for our 1-bedroom apartment or wait to have our home study until JUNE when our lease is up.  We felt trapped because we didn't want to pay the high penalty fees to get out of our lease, but we definitely didn't want to wait until June to even begin the paperwork for our home study.  Well, God is good.  We came across some money that we felt God specifically calling us to use as our lease-break money.  We felt confident that we would not regret using the money to move on and rent a house.  Because we didn't have anyone interested in our apartment we thought we were going to have to pay a month and a half's rent; however, one of the manager's came up to me the other day to tell me they had re-rented our apartment and we would only have to pay a month's rent.  We were so excited!

Our big move day is January 29th.  We are moving into a cute, little 3-bedroom house with a fenced-in yard for our sweet dog Bella.  We were excited about finding an affordable 3-bedroom because at this point there is no telling what God has in store for us.  We haven't turned down the possibility of coming back from Ghana with two kiddos.  We've definitely learned to never say never.  We've heard so many remarkable stories about God taking families from 1-4 kids, 2-3 kids, and so on.  Always more than what was expected!  This is God's adoption and we are so excited to be used as vessels and give and receive lots of love through it.

Right now we are just working to collect all our home study documents.  Pray that we would keep a level head and patiently work through each step.  With all the documents and an upcoming move things can get overwhelming.  Also, pray that Ryan and I would still put God first, each other second, and our family third.  Without a strong relationship with God and a loving marriage this adoption wouldn't even be possible.  Thanks for all the prayers!  We'll try to update more often.

Tax Deductible Donations through Helping Hands Ministries, Inc.

The Orphan Care Coffee House is tomorrow at Southeastern Ledford Center 8 p.m.-11 p.m. and cost 5.00
We have been accepted to receive assistance through Helping Hands Ministries in Tallulah Falls, Ga. Praise God!!!

Ryan and Sarah Clopton

Prayer Commitment or Gift Card

An Adoption Project for the benefit of Ryan and Sarah Clopton has been established with Helping Hands Ministries, Inc.  All gifts are tax deductible.  You will receive a receipt for your gift.

To make a prayer commitment and/or gift

please complete the following and send to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc.

P.O. Box 337, Tallulah Falls, GA 30573

Phone: (706) 754-6884   Fax: (706) 754-9247

Email:  dawn@hhmin.org   Web:  www.hhmin.org

___  I commit to pray regularly for the Clopton Family

___  This is a cash/check/credit card gift of $____________________

Name___________________________________________________________________________

Address _________________________________________________________________________

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To pay by check:

• Make check payable to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc.  (do not put Clopton's name on check memo, only this flyer)
• Include this flyer with your donation.
• Mail to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. at the above address.
• To make an on-line donation please visit www.hhmin.org

To pay by credit card:

Name as listed on the credit card:______________________  hereby authorizes Helping Hands Ministry, Inc. to charge my credit card.

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• Mail, email or fax to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. at the above address and fax number. Email to dawn@hhmin.org 

Yard Sale Success!

God is so good!  We had a fantastic yard sale this past weekend.  With the help from friends and family who donated money, goods, and time, we were able to raise OVER $1400.  We couldn't have asked for a better weekend, better location, better buyers, or a better group of friends.  The surplus of donations we had of things to sell was amazing.  We were able to underprice pretty much everything and still raise the money.  Not to mention, we hauled off two truckloads of leftovers that we took to the seminary's share shop and an apartment complex which houses several of Raleigh's refugee families.

I have definitely learned some things from having my first "big girl" yard sale.  Having yard sales as an adult are very different than when my parents had yard sales and I helped them prepare for it.  Who knew this much went into preparing for a sale?!  I definitely felt like I could be on the show "Hoarders" last week.  I was stuck in the garage getting everything ready because of the torrential downpour of rain outside.  Luckily I had friends to keep me sane.  I have a focus problem when I face overwhelming tasks, but my friends helped me to dig right in.  When it boiled down to it...Saturday was great and the Lord showed His absolute love for orphans through His provision this weekend.

I think my highlight of the yard sale was watching some of the neighborhood kids bringing their own items and donating them to our sale.  One little boy, Jonah, especially touched my heart.  He is adopted from Russia and probably about 8 or 9 years old.  He brought his old tricycle to donate.  He came back a few hours later to see if anyone had purchased it.  I told him with great enthusiasm we had sold it and he had been so helpful with our sale.  He was excited and started looking around for things he could buy.  He picked up a candle holder marked $1 and pulled out his one dollar bill and gave it to  me.  He looked at me and said, "I want to get this to give to my mom.  This yard sale is for a good cause."  I can't help but think he felt connected to the sale in some way because of his adoption.  It was such a blessing to see him and have his help along with the other boys.  Blake, Nathan, and Jonah were all our "Junior Volunteers."  They did a great job of guarding our money.

What a blessing to see God at work in our adoption.  We have met our first monetary goal and can now send off our agency fee.  Praise God.

The Yard Sale is 3 Days Away!

Ryan and I are getting exciting about our upcoming yard sale.  We are armed with lots of $1 and $5 bills and have TONS of stuff to sell.  Now all we need to do is...PRICE EVERYTHING!  This is the part of yard sales that just aren't fun to me.  I never know how much to ask for garage sale stuff.  Luckily, I have friends helping me who will hopefully have far more yard sale knowledge than me.  So, needless to say, we'll be accepting "or best offer" prices.  I am praying that people will remember that this event is to raise money for our adoption and hopefully will feel led to pay a few quarters more for things than they normally would.  We've been overwhelmed by the amount of things we've received to sell from friends, church family, school families, and some things from people we don't even know.  God is definitely providing for us and our filled 1-bedroom apartment is definitely showing His provision!  Please pray for the sale on Saturday; not only for funds, but for it to be a great opportunity to share WHY we're adopting with people that come.

THIS Saturday, October 2nd

6am-4pm

2716 Winter Song Road

Raleigh, NC 27614

(Located in Bedford Subdivision)

Yard Sale Location Change

A lot has gone on this past week and we've had to change the location of our yard sale.  A wonderful friend and co-worker of mine has leant us her yard, garage, and driveway for our sale.  We are so thankful to her for having an open heart.  Thanks, Jill!  Our new yard sale location will be:

(Located in Bedford Subdivision)

2716 Winter Song Road

Raleigh, NC 27614

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 

6am-4pm

If you have items you'd like to donate to our sale you can drop them off at the above address the week of Sept. 26-Oct 1.  Please call me (404-824-1222) or Ryan (478-397-4885) so we can arrange a time for you to drop off your donations.  We are already so encouraged by so many of our friends who have been setting things aside for us.  We can see God at work through our friends and through this adoption.  Thank you all!

Adoption isn't plan B

Sarah posted her first blog post, so I thought I’d follow her up today. The Lord has been teaching the two of us so much through adoption. Whether it is faith in God’s provision for finances to follow through with his call on our life to adopt; simple lessons like trusting we will find a location to have a yard sale, or big lessons about the picture of the gospel in adoption. Adoption has already taught us about our former condition and the rescue of Christ for those without hope.  Adoption definitely is a clear picture of what Christ did for us as Christians. I hope through this long process many friends and family will be challenged to ask how they could help the 143 million orphans around the world. Could God be calling some of them to adopt as well? James 1:27 tells us that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Many see adoption as plan B, after all “normal” avenues are pursued or large quantities of money are spent for chance fertility, but the question must be asked as to when you stop to consider the 145 million without parents? God has commanded the Church to take care of the orphaned. The Church must be brought near to the crisis and therefore, the need for adoption as a major focus among all Christians. “Adopted for Life” by Russell Moore taught me a lot about the presentation of the gospel in the process of adoption. Ephesians 1:5 says that God “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” We all as Christians have been adopted into the family of Christ. Some may ask why we would adopt internationally with another race. We ask “why not?” Christ went beyond the Hebrew nation and adopted all of us of another race as Gentiles. If Christ did not care about adoption-we all would be lost in our sin. The church of the West needs the orphan far more than the orphan needs the Christian. The Church is the arms and heart of Christ as agents of change in every nation. Adoption is one vital area of change. Orphans are those without anyone to provide, care, and fight for their protection. There are approx. 300,000 churches in America; why are there still 145 million orphans? We are consumed with ourselves and we do not have faith for storing treasures in heaven. I believe Roe vs. Wade has likely not been overturned because the church is not radically pro-adoption. Like culture at large we see orphan care as optional. Adoption really can save the American church from their toxic self-absorption and materialism that consumes it as we speak. Adoption is not a pet project; adoption is the gospel. At this moment there are 75 million orphans in Asia and 50 million orphans in Africa. One country full of orphans is Ghana, West Africa which has an estimated 1 million orphans out of a population of 30 million. Having traveled to Ghana in the past I was able to see personally the large number of orphans roaming the streets of major cities like Accra and Tamele.


Sarah and I are very excited about the opportunity of sharing the gospel through adoption. As people see our child as obviously ethnically different, we will consistently use the opportunity to share why we adopted and how our heavenly Father adopted us as well. At the same time, we will give a precious child without parents a loving family and home. We both know that our future child will bless us far more than any sacrifice we could ever make to adopt. We cannot wait to invest our lives into our child.

The Beginning of a Wonderful Journey

On June 14th of this year Ryan and I decided to begin the adoption process for an international adoption.  We have always felt the Lord was calling us to adopt and while we were in Florida for a conference the Lord told us "Now!"  I had joked with Ryan about how for our Two Year Anniversary (June 14) he could give me a baby.  We both laughed it off.  On the 14th around lunchtime I received a text from Ryan that read, "I want to start the adoption process.  The Lord's calling is clear."  I was ecstatic that I received my gift after all.

Since then we have chosen an adoption agency, been accepted, and now here we are watching the Lord supply the funds a little along the way.  We're currently working on our first big fundraiser event.  We will be having a yard sale on October 2nd (6 a.m.-4 p.m.) in Wake Forest, NC.  The address is 3106 Heritage Trade Drive Wake Forest, 27587 NC.  My school, Thales Academy, has been so gracious to lend us their parking lot since we live in an apartment and can't necessarily have a yard sale here.  We're praying the Lord will supply us with items/donations we can sell.  We've only been married two years and don't have much to sell of our own.  We're hoping to be the "Goodwill" for the community and be able to accept others' excess and clutter.  If you'd like to donate to our yard sale please contact one of us (Sarah- mrs.clopton@live.com, Ryan- clop2090@hotmail.com).  Our yard sale ad can be found here:  http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=14600156&fbid=10150254608070467&id=747465466&ref=nf#!/event.php?eid=125465197502509&ref=mf

Please pray that we would remember and glorify the Lord's providence and that we would use every opportunity to use our adoption as a means to share the Gospel.  What better a message of the Gospel than adopting an orphan into our home and family; after all, the Lord has adopted us as His children.  We were once without a Father or a home.