We're in a Hurry, but God's Not

We're in a Hurry, but God's Not

by Joyce Meyer - posted November 16, 2012

To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven.
—Ecclesiastes 3:1

“Let nature take its course.” This is a phrase we often hear another way of saying, "Settle down and let things happen according to the prescribed timetable." With each of our four children, I was pregnant ten months. After the birth of the fourth one, my doctor finally said, "You are the only woman I know who stays pregnant as long as an elephant." Needless to say, it was a difficult experience. Who knows? Maybe God was trying to teach me, even back then, how to wait properly.

We never learn patience without something to be patient about. Patience is something that has to be worked in us — it doesn't just appear. The fruit of patience is in our spirits, because as children of God, the Holy Spirit is resident within us.

But for patience to be expressed through our souls (our mind, will, and emotions), a work must be done in us. Once the prescribed time of waiting for the birth of each of my children had passed, I tried everything imaginable to bring on labor. I walked, took castor oil, worked harder than usual, hoping it would help "speed things up." With one of them, I even went into the hospital so the doctor would induce labor. It didn't work; I was sent home. The doctor basically said, "Go home and let nature take its course."

My advice to you from the Word of God and from my experience in life is, "Don't be in such a big hurry." You may be "pregnant" with dreams for your life, but you may also be trying to have your "baby" out of season. We can make huge messes in our lives, and sometimes get upset with God because things didn't work out the way we thought the Lord said they would. Things will happen as God said if we wait on His timing. We are the ones in a hurry. God is not in a hurry!

Stay busy delighting yourself in the Lord, and let Him give you what He wants you to have. If God has placed the desire in you, you can be assured that He will bring it to birth in the right season. Wait on God for direction and instruction on how to proceed, do what He tells you or shows you, but don't go beyond that.

I enjoyed reading this article by Joyce Meyer. Its a nice reminder that we are on God's time for our Adoption. God would like us to enjoy the journey. He wants us to enjoy  his company as we enjoy his. 

https://www.facebook.com/OnderdonkAdoption

 http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/babyonderdonkadoption/29483

http://www.gofundme.com/2cidgk

These are all excellent books by Joyce Meyer:. 

The Confident Woman Devotional: 365 Daily Inspirations

Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

Never Give Up!: Relentless Determination to Overcome Life's Challenges

Conflict Free Living: How to build healthy relationships for life

Our first seminar

On Wednesday Jessie and I went to Indy for our first adoption seminar. It was amazing! So much information to go over and pray about. We were both very impressed with their honesty and "no holds bar" attitude. We are both still very concerned about the cost, but have definitely agreed that Adoption Support Center is a possibility for us to find the right birth mom.

I'll try to give you the costs as we have them in front of us. I'll also try to explain as best I can what each item entails. Like I said, it was a lot of information and I don't think we've fully absorbed it all yet.

Information Seminar (which we went to Wed) - $35
Registration Fee -$325 (the seminar fee gets applied to this, bringing it to $290)
Home Study - $1500 + federal mileage (since they are coming from Indy it will be approx 400-500 miles round trip at approx .40 per mile totaling $160-$200)
  *Includes: office interview, adoption class, pre-adoption home visit (to make sure the home environment is fit for a child)
  *Ready the Nest- A class for first time parents, which is mandatory $115
Activation Fee - $1550 Fee is paid at class w/ submission of registration forms and Biography Folder (complete with required photos and Dear Birth Mother draft letter)
 *Includes: supplies, creation and distribution of bio to birth moms and final copy of bio to couple.
Marketing & Advertising Fee - $6,120 (since Jessie will be 40 next month, otherwise it would have been $4,080) The fee is to be paid at the time of the class.
Birth Mom Coordination Fee - $2,400 Fee paid upon receipt of home study draft and signature page
ASC Agency Placement Fee - $9,000 Paid 2 weeks prior to birth mom's due date (agency holds check until petition is filed or baby goes home with us whichever comes first.

All of these fees are non-refundable and some of them (from my understanding) expire. Which is why we want to get as much money in the "baby onderdonk savings acct" as possible before we start anything. We don't want to get half way through and run out of funds and have to start all over. That would not only be heartbreaking, but it would bust our pocketbook. The above prices are for the Domestic Plan for Caucasian & Hispanic Placements. At this time we are not looking to go International, as it is a whole lot more expensive and most countries require at least 2-2 week visits to the country.

We are looking at another plan that is "cheaper" that we are hoping could be the road God wants us to go down, or at least keep in mind. Again it is Domestic, but for African American & African American biracial Placements. We were told this is less expensive because they don't have to do the advertising like they do in the other plan. The prices are the same until you get to the Marketing & Advertising Fee. It is only $1,020 vs $6,120. Another huge difference is the Birth Mom Coordination Fee which is $600 vs $2,400. The ASC Agency Placement Fee is the same in both plans.

The grand total for Plan 1 is $21,175. The grand total for Plan 3 is $14,275. (Plan 2 is International in case you were wondering!)

So there ya go! That is the meat and potatoes of what we learned Wednesday. I'm not sure if Jessie wants to me to add anything to this, but I'm sure he'll have me type up something if he does. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It truly means a lot to the both of us. All these figures mean is that we have to work hard to raise the money to bring our baby home. He/She is out there waiting for us. Anything you can do to help us bring him/her home would be a blessing! Much love to you!! xoxo

Alana & Jessie

https://www.facebook.com/OnderdonkAdoption

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/babyonderdonkadoption/29483

http://www.gofundme.com/2cidgk

One Dime Can Make a Difference

I was in a gas station while I was in line I realized that I was a dime short from having what I needed to pay for my item. I was like where am I going to get a dime. Standing there with my predicament a customer was pulling some change out of the change dispenser. She had dropped some change on to the floor. She picked up some of the change as she was walking out she said to the cashier “I dropped some change” then walked out the door. To my surprise there was a dime that I needed to pay for my item. Just before all this happened, I was thinking how are we were going to come up with the money to pay for our adoption. I was thinking to myself we will just have to have faith!

God was telling me that he will provide even as small as a dime. I don’t know how he will provide for the adoption, but it doesn't matter so long as we have faith in him. I was thinking of a verse in the bible about moving mountains.

Matthew 17:20

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

We really appreciate everyone’s support and prayers it means so much to us. Nothing is impossible with faith in God. We are all blessed!!

https://www.facebook.com/OnderdonkAdoption

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=12094&url=babyonderdonkadoption

http://www.gofundme.com/2cidgk

Adoption Jewelry

These are necklaces that we made to help try to raise money for our adoption costs. Thank you for your support. If you're interested please email us at onderdonk1514@comcast.net. 

**Earrings coming soon**

These are $10 plus shipping.

These are $7 plus shipping.

https://www.facebook.com/OnderdonkAdoption

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=12094&url=babyonderdonkadoption

http://www.gofundme.com/2cidgk