Sharing the stories part 5

This is a continuation of Sharing the stories part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. We have received so many wonderful stories of how people are touched by Valentin and some really sweet stories of giving and fund raising. We are so touched by these stories not only because so many want to help rescue Valentin but also because we see God moving in the hearts of His people. We hope you enjoy these stories, testimonies, prayers, and neat fundraisers as much as we do.

This one really gets to me. This family is so dear to us and they have blessed us countless times. You know those friends you have that YOU KNOW God placed in your life? That somehow you sense that your souls and lives are intertwined somehow? The ones that you almost feel bad because all the benefits of the friendship are going to you and you wonder why they stick around because there is nothing you could give to repay them for all they have done? This is such a family and they absolutely don’t want to be ‘made’ so I have tried to tell this story without giving way who they are which is not easy. They are sincerely selfless people and the only reason they are allowing me to put this up here is to give all the glory to God!

Here is the email I received shortly after announcing our adoption and asking for help:

“I just wanted to share with you how wonderful our God is!!! We read your blog about Valentin. And, as with all of your blogs, we were touched to the depths of our being.

We paid our bills this month and really thought we would be short due to Christmas and extra medical bills. However, for some reason we had $1000.00 left over (think it might be God or what?). So, we thanked God and put the money in our EMERGENCY fund to give it some extra padding. In our eyes Valentin's adoption is an emergency.

One of our kids bought his books for this semester of college. I was with him when he went to the bookstore. One of his books alone was going to cost $197.00. He said he could not pay that much for one book and would try getting it elsewhere. He only had three days to get this book purchased. When we got home, he went online and found it for $73.00. And, with expedited shipping he got it for $84.00. He said thanks to God for saving him a little more than $100.00. After reading your blog, he said he knew God saved him that extra money for a reason.

Our other child asked me to read the blog to her. After doing so, she cried and cried and cried!! She cried some more today. She has been saving all of her birthday and extra chores money for 2 years now. She was saving it to buy something that her Dad and she could do together (note - writing what it was would give it away). After she heard about Valentin, she looked at us and said ‘I really don't need that thing and I want to help them adopt Valentin.’ We asked her how much she wanted to donate. She said......all of it. So, we went to the bank to get some coin rollers. Most of her saved money was in the form of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. After rolling all the coins we added up her savings; which came to $152.00.

I told my Mom about Valentin. She said she had an extra $350.00 that she needed to tithe this month and asked me to put it toward the adoption fund.

Because of God, the 5 of us were able to save $1602.00; which I mailed to Reece's Rainbow today. I know it isn't all that you need, but I know God will use it to reach your and His goal. He is soooo much bigger than $25,000.00.

We all want to thank you, not only for your tender hearts and answering God's call to save this little boy, but also for being humble enough to allow us to use God's money in a way that is serving Him. Seeing God work through our children for the sake of another child is something we will treasure forever. If you hadn't asked for help, we would have missed this blessing. So again, thank you for asking.

We love you all so very much and now that includes Valentin too. Our prayers are with you. Can't wait until that little boy is home!

By the way, our daughter asked if she could do some extra chores around the house so she could start saving up to help with the next adoption (out of the mouth of babes).”

Let me collect myself off the floor…I mean how awesome is this family?!?! How awesome is our God?!?!

The story doesn’t end there…

The name Valentin is the alias given to him by Reece’s Rainbow to protect him (this is also why we do not publicly announce what country we are adopting from – it is for the children’s safety). Well we recently found out that his real name is his country’s version of a biblical name. We love it and we love the meaning of the name so we have been tossing around the idea of keeping the English version of the name.

We were having dinner with this couple and we mentioned the name to them. With tears in her eyes, our friend said that is what they named the child they lost. We could not stop thinking about that all night and how God had woven this beautiful tapestry that brought all of us together, knowing ahead of time that Valentin would join our family and that they would be a beautiful part of that. Well clear-as-day it was confirmed and his name was settled! Both of us wrote emails back and forth gushing over what God had done in revealing what He had been planning/doing all along. I don’t know if this touches your soul like it does ours (and I am not very good at articulating the details) but if you can bear it, here is their email to us:

We read your e-mail this morning; however, it has taken us all day to compose ourselves enough to respond. There are a few things, in this life, that we will treasure until our dying breaths. Such as, our salvation/relationship with God and that of our children, our marriage, the birth of our children, and now this! I know you know all too well the pain and sorrow of a child’s death and all the unanswered questions that come with it, but we had faith that the Lord would turn our sorrow into joy because he promised He would. We didn't see how that would be possible, but had the faith it would be done. Well, now we know. Just knowing that you are saving this little boy and are thinking about naming him after our son is a life moment we will never forget. You have turned our sorrow into joy!! Thank you, guys, for your amazing, thoughtful, and loving hearts. We can't even express in words how much this means to us.”

Thank you God for our dear friends!