We feel called to grow our family through adoption, and as part of that calling, we are asking our community to partner with us in bringing home Baby Sennert! We believe that God loves adoption, and that it is a blessing for us to walk with him in this process. Our very own lives have been forever changed by our adoptions into the family of God through the saving work of Christ, and so we are delighted to follow after our Father's own heart and welcome our son or daughter home in the months ahead. We will be sure to keep updating everyone on news and any advances towards placement, as well as fundraisers that you can participate in. We hope that above all else you will pray with us and for us as we trust the Lord and prepare for our new family member. More info to come so stay tuned!
Happy Monday!
We are truly so grateful to have each of you behind us, praying for us, and believing in the work that God is doing in our family each day. Its a treasure to me every day knowing that you are here in this waiting and hoping with us.
This week has brought some really exciting news that our first home study interview is set for this coming Saturday morning. While every situation is unique, we are anticipating the interviews to take a couple of weeks or so, and then the report to take a little longer than that to put together (1-2 more months). Once that report is complete, we have one in-person training set for July 31st, and then we can officially be considered a "waiting family". So this feels like a big step for us to have the home study underway, and we are definitely excited for it!
Some other exciting things happening that we are certainly rejoicing over:
- Our t-shirt fundraiser helped us to raise over $1100 towards our fundraising goal
- Our current Adopt Together total is nearing $10,000, something we literally could not have done without each and every one of you!
- We are working on putting together the nursery for our Family Album - a digital album that will be provided to our child's birth mom to help her as she makes her decision about placement.
- We are starting to put together info for grant applications which we can start submitting once the home study is completed.
In addition to all of this, we are seeing every day as God so graciously provides things we couldn't even know to ask for before we even need them. He has put other adoptive parents in our lives, given us opportunities to share our story and be advocates for adoption, and encouraged us every day to trust him more. We'll be praying this month for continued peace and confidence as we prepare our home, and for you as you are joining us in this kingdom work, that your faith would be renewed and your joy would be complete.
To the Praise of His Glorious Grace,
Danielle and Mark
We have been so blown away by your support and generosity on this journey so far! We are about 1/3 of the way through our fundraising for the total adoption now, which is really exciting. We have funding through every agency milestone now except the final payment, which is substantial, but it also gives us the rest of our time to focus on that final big cost through fundraising programs and grants, rather than feeling behind. God has been so gracious to put you all in our paths and we are so blessed to know you!
Currently we are preparing for our home study interviews. We also have learned the date for an in-house training we are required to do with our agency prior to being put on the waiting families list and that training is set for July 31st, so its reasonable to assume we will be able to be a "waiting family" starting in August once that training is complete. Its nice to have a clearer timeline for that piece and to have some breathing room to focus on fundraising efforts, preparing the baby room, and just EXPECTING a new little life.
I (Danielle) have been reading an older book by Eugene Peterson called "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" which is a break down of the songs of ascent in the Psalms, and its been a really wonderful accompaniment to the season we're in. One concept he talks about is how the word for "prosperity" in Hebrew, rather than material success, is actually a concept of "the relaxed stance of one who knows that everything is all right because God is over us, with us, and for us in Jesus Christ." I think that is a concept I am becoming more attuned to in this season, that God will do what He has said, faithfully and surely, and His desire is for us to trust Him in such a manner that we are calmly confident about what He has said He will do. In such an uncertain world, calmness is such a strange juxtaposition for God's people to take, and yet we know that we have sabbath with God because of Christ, and so in all things we can trust that we are His and His kingdom will stand. And we are witness to that victory every day we continue down this road to our baby.
So we are learning new ways to set our eyes on His kingdom work, lean into His daily mercies, and humbly appreciating the joy of fellowship with all of you as we watch God accomplish perfectly His will in our family. It is a treasure to be His and to be with you all. Thank you for your prayers and friendship, always!
Sincerely,
Danielle and Mark
We are so absolutely blown away by your generosity and encouragement in this process! We've been praying about adoption for a long time now and began the process of agency acceptance in September, so finally being able to confidently share our big news is really exciting. It is hard to put your heart into something while its uncertain, and being accepted into our agency a few weeks ago finally gave us confidence that we could really begin to hope towards meeting our baby in earnest. Still, your response of support has taken that hope to a whole new level this week! We feel so loved and more than that, we are so overwhelmed knowing how loved our baby already is by you, our dear community!
There is lots of paperwork going on right now - we got sooooooo many fingerprints taken the last couple of weeks that once completed, we will be the safest people to know in America, I think! Also gathering all kinds of certificates, financial documents, and taking a LOT of trainings to have everything in order for the home study. There's so much to do but it also feels great to have something to do besides wait! And of course, there will be plenty of waiting in the months ahead.
So as you pray for us, we hope that you will first always remember our birth mother, and pray that she would be met with the love of Christ every day, that she would be surrounded by love even more than we have been, and that she would be encouraged in the truth of the gospel. For Mark and I, pray for peace and faith as we seek to trust in the Lord for his vision of our family, his sovereign timing and placement of people and opportunities in our path, and for confidence to keep boldly approaching him as a Father who loves to give good gifts and who has a plan already underway!
We love you all and we are so excited to share more of what God is doing in our little world this year. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for meeting us here!
Mark and Danielle
