The Gandys are adopting a baby!
For years, we have both had a desire to adopt. Even before we were married, God began working in our hearts and preparing us for adoption. Within the last year, God has made it abundantly clear to us that now, 2018, is the year for us to officially start our adoption journey.
In December of 2016, about 4 years into marriage and a year and a half in the trenches of infertility, we felt sad, isolated, and forgotten. I (Jourdan) barely had the strength to open my Bible, much less follow any sort of Bible study “plan.” In the midst of this, I decided one day to open my Bible to a random page and start reading. I opened to Isaiah 49, which reads “My Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” (v. 14) This was exactly how I was feeling. I continued reading…v. 15-16, God speaking, says “…even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” At this point, I knew God had led me to these verses and was speaking to me. At this point, I was in tears. Verse 19 continues, “Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land - surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20 The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: ‘The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in. 21 Then you will say in your heart: ‘Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold I was left alone; from where have these come?’” 22 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.” God never forgets us or forsakes us. Even in our darkest places, He is still there and still cares for us. God pursues us and speaks to us even when we feel cast aside. He spoke to me that day, and as I continued on into 2017, I thought back to that sweet time with Jesus in December of the previous year. As I shared my thoughts with John and showed him the verse that God led me to, we both began processing what, exactly, God was trying to tell us. Though now it is abundantly clear to us that God was beginning to prepare our hearts for adoption, at the time we were still attempting to correct our infertility issues. The further we got into 2017, however, the more we both continued to think about adoption as not just a “one day” sort of thing, but a “very soon” thing. In December of 2017, almost exactly a year to the day that God first spoke to me through His word, God gave us an overwhelming peace about beginning the adoption process in January of 2018. God has repeatedly affirmed and made clear to us that this is what He desires for us in 2018.
Because we know that God has called us to this, we trust that He will provide for us. We’re expecting our adoption to cost anywhere from $70,000 to $75,000, which sounds shocking and terrifying, but we are stepping out in faith and believing that God will provide in miraculous ways. By setting up this crowdfunding campaign, we are inviting you into our adoption journey and inviting you to be a part of the beautiful story that Jesus is writing in our lives. We have set a goal of $30,000 to help ease the financial burden that so often overwhelms and stresses adoptive parents, but will be eternally grateful for any help that our community wants to provide. As participants in our adoption process, know that we are inviting you into the community that we hope to build around our future son or daughter.
Please continue to lift us up in your prayers. We need them. Adoption is hard and the journey is long and stressful, but it is so worth it. Pray that the enemy would flee and that the Holy Spirit would walk with us and give us strength and peace. Pray for the birthmother, that she would know Jesus and know just how loved she is not only by us, but by her Heavenly Father. And finally, pray for our baby. Pray that God would keep him or her safe, and pray for his or her salvation…that God would call our son or our daughter to Himself and that our child would know just how loved and treasured they are by both us and by Jesus Christ.
We love you all and are so incredibly thankful for you. Now let’s go bring home baby Gandy!
John and Jourdan
