The following post is from Eric and Mandy McKnight. Eric & Mandy live in Loganville, Georgia with their 4 kids, Jacob(10), Owen(8), Maggie(6), & Anna Faith(3). Eric owns a bookstore software company & Mandy stays at home with their 4 children. They just began the process of adopting from China again! They are hoping to return to China in the near future to bring home their fifth child.
It always amazes us how many people say, “I would love to adopt, but I could never afford it.” Finances are one of the biggest obstacles to people saying yes to adoption. When our family started on our journey to adopt Anna Faith from China, we knew it would cost around $30,000. Wow, right? That’s a lot of money. That’s quite a mountain to climb and, if we’re honest, how God provided it was far different than what we expected or what we planned.
It’s important to understand that the $30K is not required up front. It comes in waves and as those waves approach you can prepare for them before they break. There are quite a few resources out there with a great number of suggestions on how to get prepared. We sold t-shirts, did garage sales and gift card give aways. We sold purses on E-Bay (that were donated from a wonderful friend at no cost). We were also helped by a local ministry in the Atlanta area, Promise 686. They provide a matching grant for those couples seeking adoption. They have an incredible team and are also a great source of information and encouragement. In the end, God provided every penny of the $30K in a myriad of ways, all of which we are incredibly thankful for.
God has a lot of resources, right? Endless supplies, you might say. What we found on our journey of adoption is that by putting our faith in Him to meet a need He has strong opinions about, we saw Him move in our lives. We have a number of stories, big and small, of how God showed His grace and mercy and faithfulness to us as the waves approached. God has a heart for adoption and the orphan. Putting your faith in Him so you can meet the need of an orphan is a recipe for amazing results.
If you feel God tugging on your heart to adopt, money cannot be your obstacle. God has plenty of it and He showed us His eagerness to provide those funds to see His will done in our lives and in the life of our Anna Faith. She is a joy. An immense blessing to our family and a reminder of God’s love for every one of us who were separated from the family of God, until He adopted us as His children.
Incredible blessings await those who stare at the financial mountain, and let their faith reduce it to a small pebble in the eyes of God. If we had ended up paying the $30K ourselves, Anna Faith would have been worth every penny, but God abundantly blessed us and we are forever thankful.
