Both Hands Project - 11/6/10

We serve an awesome God!!!


We arrived at Odessa’s home Saturday morning, planning to work on building a pump house for her water pipes so they wouldn’t freeze throughout the winter. When we got there, they didn’t have any water. The night before, the pipes burst. WOW! God’s timing is amazing.

After eating our breakfast provided by Hardees, we got to work. Most of the men started fixing the pipes and building the pump house. The rest of us blew (with leaf blowers) & raked leaves to help clean the last few leaves of fall off the yard and flower beds. (The family had already gotten rid of the majority of the leaves.) This family does everything they can to take care of their property, but because of physical limitations there are some things they cannot do.  Jeff even had the doors to put on the front of the pump house built, painted, and ready to go!

The weather was warmer than expected and we only saw a few flakes of snow throughout the day. We praise the Lord for controlling the weather for us!!! I (Marie) was able to spend some time talking with Odessa and getting to know her better. She’s a wonderful lady and was so thankful for the help our team gave her.

We left the project saying that even if this didn’t raise any money for our adoption, it was worth it. We were so blessed!!! God uses us in many ways and He works out details! We thank God for the privilege of serving this family!

Our team: Pastor John Bunn, Mike Bush, Jeffrey Keith Watts, Tony Watts, Lenora Bush, Marie Angus, Keith Watts (front), Odessa Watts (our widow), Dean Watts.

Not pictured: Brad Angus took the picture, Mark Underwood contacted businesses to sponsor us, and Jeannie & Robert Baker kept our girls while we worked.

Many other people prayed for us and gave toward our adoption.  THANK YOU to everyone who had a part!!!!!

Before - The old pipes

Broken Pipe

Mike & Tony work on a wall for the pump house

Helping a Widow & an Orphan - Nov 6, 2010

Our fundraiser is scheduled for this Saturday.  We would appreciate your prayers!!!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to help Pauline as originally planned, but God is in control and has provided us with another woman we can serve.

Meet Odessa (our widow)
Odessa and Keith were saved and baptized on the same day. They married and began serving God. Keith served as pastor to a couple different churches—serving 23 years at the church he was pastoring when he died.  He also worked as a coal miner for 18 years and lovingly provided for his family. When Keith died, Odessa lost her best friend and life-long partner.  Jeff, their youngest son, does everything he can to care for his mother, but he is confined to a wheelchair because of an accident when he was younger. He does beautiful work with his hands and often makes things for our church when we need them.

Our team is going to spend Saturday morning helping nail up gutters, sealing the edges of the roof, weed-eating, etc.  We are also raising sponsors.  All the money raised will go to the adoption of our son.  So, this fundraiser helps both a widow and an orphan!

Please pray 

• that God will bless Odessa and Jeffrey Keith through our team on Saturday. 
• for weather that will allow us to accomplish the projects they need done.
• that God will continue to provide for our adoption - in HIS time, in His way.
• that God will be glorified through this fundraiser and our adoption.

Approximately $1000 has come in for this fundraiser so far.  We still need $14,000.  With the adoption tax credit, we should get $10,000 back, but we have to have the money up front before we can be matched and bring our son home.  A 3-month no-interest loan seems ideal, but so far, God has not chosen to provide in that way.  Please pray that we will trust His plan and allow Him to provide in His way.


If anyone is interested in supporting a fundraiser like this, donations can be made to any of the projects at http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html. Just scroll through the page until you see the picture of the family/project to whom you want your donation to be designated.



If you want to give toward our adoption, you can go to the project link above or if you prefer mail,
please make your tax-deductible checks to Lifesong for Orphans. Please preference how the donation may be used by writing “Angus #1442 adoption” in the memo section of your check.
You can give the check to us or send it to:

Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40 / 202 N Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744


Some businesses are giving too. If you know of any businesses that might be interested please pass on the word. They'll get a tax-deductible receipt and, we will list their name on the back of the team's t-shirts if they give $50 or more. We need to know the name they want listed by Saturday Nov 6th to get it put on the t-shirts. (We won't have the shirts by the project date - because I didn't get things organized soon enough, but I think people will wear the shirts afterwards. The front of the shirts will have James 1:27 on them.)
For more information about Both Hands & Lifesong for Orphans, you can check out http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/bothHands.html


If anyone wants a t-shirt, you can get one for $10.  Please let me know what size you want.

Thank you especially for your prayers!!  We serve an awesome God!  We know He will provide in His time and in His way.  To God ALONE be the glory!!!!!!

Katelyn's Fund Grant

Last week we were interviewed by phone by the board of Katelyn's Fund.  Only four of the board members were able to make it (so they said we had an easy night), but we shared our story and answered their questions.  At the end of interview, they each prayed for us and our adoption journey.  It was wonderful to have them take time to pray over us.  What a privilege and a blessing.  We knew they were interviewing others and would then be praying over applications and we should hear from them in around three weeks.

This week has been a little difficult as we've been waiting to hear about our no-interest loan for which we applied.  We were told the review usually takes 4 to 6 weeks and then we'd be notified by e-mail or phone.  Monday marked 7 weeks since they received our application.  If we are approved, we should be able to tell our agency that we're ready to be matched.  I know I need to remember that I'm waiting on the LORD, not a loan.  I also know that He is using each detail to help bring us the son He wants to be part of our family.  Knowing these things helps, but it doesn't take away the anticipation or the emotions that go with the process.

I was encouraged yesterday by the following passage.  "...waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But, the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along." ~ taken from Romans 8 (The Message)

We received a call today from Sheila at Katelyn's Fund.  She said we've been approved for a full grant - $3000.  Praise the LORD!!!  I was so surprised to hear from them already.  It was such an encouragement in the waiting.  We can't tell our agency that we're ready to be matched yet, but evidently God is not ready for us to be matched.  And, as a framed quote in our first agency said, "Faith in God includes faith in His timing."

Both Hands & Paperwork Progress

We got a call from Lifesong for Orphans yesterday.  They approved us to do the BOTH HANDS fundraiser.  We are excited and have quite a bit of work to do to get a team together, etc.  Please pray for us as we organize the project, etc and pray that God will be glorified through this fundraiser.  If you want to read more about it, you can see our previous blog post or go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/bothHands.html. 

Today we did our fingerprinting again.  Everything has to be done within 12 months of the child's placement in our home.  So, we've been redoing physicals, criminal checks, etc...  I must admit it's been a somewhat frustrating week because I've been confused about some of the paperwork.  After several people helped me, I think today I finally understood what we're supposed to do.  I don't say this to complain.  In fact, I almost didn't admit it.  But, if any people reading this are in the adoption process, they need to know that the adoption journey has it's ups and downs.  Hold on!!!  It will be worth it!

Some quotes from Hope for the Journey that have really encouraged me are


“This is what God has called us to do. We know it’s messy; we know it’s uncomfortable, and it’s going to turn our lives upside down, but this is God’s heart.” ~ Steven Curtis Chapman

and

"The adoption journey is not easy, but every hour of toil, every obstacle encountered, every tear shed, every sleepless night--all are but a shadow of the price that God paid for us."

and

“Looking back at the wait and setbacks we had endured to adopt our son, God’s timing could not have been more perfect. God knew exactly how to connect us to the child he created for us.” ~ Kerry Hasenbalg

So glad we waited on God!

God has been working behind the scenes as we've been waiting on Him.  It has been amazing to sit back and let Him work.  Now I don't mean we've been completely idle.  We felt clear to do our homestudy with Adoption Assistance, Inc so we filled out paperwork and had a homestudy visit.  We've looked at some placing agencies, but just haven't felt clear for one reason or another.  The ones we've leaned toward either wouldn't work with us for some reason (like we already have children or we don't make enough money) or had a very negative evaluation from someone we trust.  So, we've just waited.  We are so glad we did.

As we shared in our last blog, God's Grace Adoption Ministries gave us a matching grant of up to $2500.  Generous friends donated $1129.85 so it will become $2259.70.  PRAISE THE LORD and THANK YOU to the friends who gave!!!  Unfortunately, GGAM cannot tell us who gave.  They will only tell us the total given.  This is frustrating because we cannot thank individuals.  So, if you gave and you're reading this, thank you.  We deeply appreciate your gift!!!  One group that gave was the Pro-Life Ministry from Kentucky Mountain Bible College.  It was so encouraging to be supported by college students (who don't have much money) and to be reminded that God will provide in ways we don't expect.

Sunday I (Marie) was called and asked to participate in a ministry opportunity in October.  I said I'd pray about it and I was to give an answer by Wednesday.  I prayed and talked it over with Brad and planned to call between 4 and 6 to say "Yes!" because I could see no good reason to say "No!"  Brad told me that if God wanted to close the door, He could make it clear.  Well, at 4 o'clock the phone rang. It was a lady from an adoption agency that wouldn't typically work with us because we don't make enough money.  They have a required gross income that we don't meet and then they want you to make $10,000 more per child.  I had e-mailed the agency briefly explaining our situation and asked if they made any exceptions.  Instead of simply replying to my e-mail, she called.  We talked for quite some time and she said that Adoption Assistance does such a good job with home studies that if they approve us, she doesn't care how much we make.  WOW!!  The agency also had been refusing to work with most families who can have biological children, but she told me they changed that policy this week.  God is into details!!!!  It sounds very hopeful that we may have a baby much sooner than we were expecting.  Brad & I felt that the possibility of having a baby by the time of the ministry opportunity and the fact that I received the call at 4 PM (the time I had planned to call to accept the opportunity) was God's way of closing the door and I called to say, "No!"

That night we began filling our paperwork for Graceful Adoptions.  We still have some more to do, but it's not too much considering what we've filled out previously.  Much of it is similar to what we've done before, so it's not difficult, it just takes time to put it in the format this agency wants.  It will cost over $20,000 to work with this agency and we will still have some other expenses.  We cannot use the two grants we've been given until we are almost finished with the adoption process.  (This is to guarantee the grants given support adoptions that are completed.)  We know that God is leading and as someone said, "Where God guides, He provides."

I continue to be encouraged by the quote from George Müller, "The greatness of the sum required affords me a kind of secret joy; for the greater the difficulty to be overcome, the more will it be seen to the glory of God how much can be done by prayer and faith."

Applying for financial help

Today we sent in our application for a matching grant from God's Grace Adoption Ministry.  Please pray that God will provide in His way (whether it involves this ministry or not).  If they approve us for a grant, it will be set up so that people can send in funds and the ministry will match them.  We have some other organizations we plan to apply to, but we have to wait until we receive our home study.

Please pray that God will work out His will in this entire process - the financial provision, the timing, right baby, etc.