Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27 NLT
Dear friends
First things first! Look at that picture! Go ahead, fall in love~ we have!
In November we will be traveling to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet our little boy for the first time. We will be able to spend a few hours with him each day we are there…and then after we appear before the court, we will have to leave without him. Then we will go back about 6 weeks later to bring him home! We are so very excited! We know and marvel at the fact that the Lord planned our family with him as a part of it! There are many orphans in Ethiopia! We are blessed to be called to care for and love one of them.
Neither one of us would have guessed that at this point in our lives we would be adding to our family, especially through international adoption. While we may have given thought to caring for an orphaned child, the Lord has shown us that this adoption isn’t about us at all. As the journey continues more and more we are seeing that in fact, we are just a vehicle God is using to touch the lives of many people.
Back in January when Roger gave the “go ahead” to check into different adoption agencies we really didn’t know where it would take us. We both went into this with one prevailing thought….. Because God had been preparing our hearts, we wanted to be sure that we were walking in obedience to Him. Regardless of what we “thought” we made sure that we prayed through every decision. In no way did we want to step out of his will for our family. We believe that He has blessed us with united hearts during this whole process.
Since we started this journey in February, God has laid it on our hearts that we reach out to family and friends to extend an invitation to partner with us. There are many ways to partner with a family adopting a child. Probably the most obvious is financially. Other ways include giving of your time before and after the trips, airfare (frequent flyer miles), respite and of course prayer. Our most treasured offering would be for you to pray for us and Bedilu! God hears the prayers of His people and will answer according to His will! Going in we knew it would be costly but we completely trust in God’s provision to care for this child of His, however He would choose to provide it. We have been blessed by several fundraising efforts…a garage sale, Threads of Hope bracelet sales and we have applied for a few adoption grants. You see, it really would be much easier to just handle things ourselves…. But that is not what God wants from us. God has shown us that He wants to use other people in His plan…but we have to let him. Please know that we only desire to walk in surrender and obedience to what God is calling us to do, and that is to humbly and graciously accept any gift that the Lord would provide through others. Please pray for us to be willing and gracious in receiving…that we ought not to be caught up in pridefulness and dependant on our own strength.
We would like to invite you to a Spaghetti /Fish Fry Dinner on Saturday, October 16th. It will be held at the Town of Ellington Community Center at Farmers Park in Stephensville on Hwy 76. We will serve from 4-7pm and have some Family Guitar Picking Country Music to enjoy as well! Donations will be accepted as we will not be charging a per/dinner price. We are not advertising the dinner but if your neighbors would like to come please feel free to invite them! RSVP’s by October 13th are appreciated!
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us via email or phone.
You may also contact these two ladies for help as it relates to the dinner.
RSVP, details and help……Lisa Schuenke 920.831.0244 email~ devoted2god@ymail.com
Spaghetti/ Food …..Kristyn Madalinski 920.759.9037 email~ kmadalinski@new.rr.com
Again, we appreciate your prayerful support more than anything!
In Christ’s Love
Roger and Laurie Hebbe
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7