Bringing Phillip Home...: Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling....Come home!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling....Come home!

Dear Friends,

Each step of our adoption journey has brought its own challenges, blessings, and emotions. God has peeled away layers of fears and lack of faith with painstaking accuracy. He has whittled away at our practical perceptions of finances and has radically altered our view of the future as He has provided in ways that we could not think up or imagine ourselves. He knew the areas where our foundations needed to be shored up. He knew about all of the sleepless nights and the incredible mountain top highs that we would experience. He knew the weaknesses in our family relationships that needed to be addressed. He knew that you would be there to point Phillip and our family to Jesus himself. He has been so faithful to prepare us to bring Phillip home.

Lately, I've been meditating again on the story of Hagar. At one point she refers to God as "the God who sees me." There are so many details of our family history that clearly reveal that God has heard Phillip's cry for a family and has intricately woven the events to make that happen. I love the picture of Phillip hugging the photo album to his chest because his expression seems to reveal tears of relief, anguish, and joy at the same time. He must have been thinking that God finally heard and answered his nightly prayers for a family.
"We're coming, buddy, because God bent low to hear the desires of your heart and He answered."

Now that all of the red tape is complete and our travel itinerary is set, I've been imagining over and over again what it will be like when we meet Phillip at Shepherd's Field for the first time as his forever family. My mind goes to a rush of noise as each of us releases our excitement to finally be together. It may be a really physical greeting as we all rush to get a hold of him for the first time. I imagine Karl and Kyle hoisting him out of his chair and all of us clinging to him. I've imagined what I will say to him when things quiet down because I want my words to reassure him and to bless him. I think that I will look into his handsome face and say, "It's time to come home." Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus has been calling.....Come home!

(If you'd like a copy of our travel itinerary, send us an e-mail at supercroftees@comcast.net)

1 comment:

Carrie AllenJuly 24, 2012 at 9:17 AM
Beautifully written, Joni, - brought tears to my eyes. Hoping you experience an unmeasureable amount of joy and contentedness when you finally get wrap your arms around Phillip!
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Prayer Requests

1. Phillip's spiritual growth.

2. God's provision for Phillip's medical care

3. A new wheelchair that is better suited for Phillip

4. That God would work in and through us and help us to encourage, support and inspire Phillip as he adapts to life at home with his forever family.

5. That Phillip would be free from attachment and bonding issues.

6. That there would be no barriers to the work of the Holy Spirit in Phillip's life.

7. Insight and wisdom and commitment and compassion as we parent Phillip.

8. Phillip is sufffering fromhis third pressure in 7 months. This one is big and deep and has actually been operated on in the last couple of years.

9. That we would be able to help Phillip transition to life in Spokane and to find the best resources to help him.

10. That we would be able to find the best ways to educate Phillip and to help him read and write in English. He is so SMART!

If you'd like to help......

If you'd like to donate, you can go to http://www.intlcare.org/ .

1. Go to the Helping Us page.

2. Scroll down and click on Make a Donation.

3. This will direct you to Paypal

4. Mention the name The Crofts in the memo section.

5. A 3% fee is deducted for using Paypal.

OR

Checks can be mailed to:

I Care

P.O. Box 1603

Bel Air, Maryland 21014

You can include a brief note with our name on it, but don't write our name on the memo line of the check.

When Kyle and I were at Shepherd's Field Children's Village in August of 2010, we met Chris Dubell who interned at the orphanage. I was immediately blessed by her joyful spirit. When I got to observe Chris teaching English to the primary class, I was impressed by the amazing way that Chris very competently and lovingly managed her class of students with many physical, mental, and emotional special needs. It's a SMALL WORLD! When we made the decision to adopt Phillip, we were given the name of Chris' dad, Dan, who runs an organization that seeks to encourage, support, and inspire adoption. Dan has taken teams to SFCV in the past and has graciously set up an account for us to receive donations to help with the costs of adoption.

THANK YOU!

Karl, Kyle, Brittany, and Joni

A Thousand Gifts

We're keeping our eyes on God's ABUNDANT blessings by taking turns adding to our list of a thousand ways God has BLESSED us!

1. We get the joy of bringing Phillip into our home, but we understand that the blessing will extend to Phillip's support group of family and friends as well. This is so much bigger than our family!

2. Finally having time to clean and organize! Since Phillip's bedroom is our former office, all of the items from the office have needed to find new homes.

3. Trying new Pinterest recipes with Brittany. All of them were yummy winners.

4. Progress in Grammy Croft's recovery from staph infection that afflicted her whole body.

5. Watching the Corban videos in which Brit and Kyle got to take part.

6. Reminiscing about all of the milestones in Phillip's adoption process and how God so clearly led us to bring him home.

7. Listening to Phillip cut loose and totally enjoy America's Funniest Home Videos reruns and Shaun the Sheep videos.

8. Dreaming about finding some ways to inexpensively decorate and update this house.

9. New reading books from the library for Phillip to read! I love that place!

10. Having everybody home for spring break! Boy, am I ever gonna miss you guys!