Dear
Family and Friends,
We are excited to be writing this letter to give you a glimpse of how God
is currently working in our lives. This
past summer we were blessed to have our son, Micah, join our family through the
miracle of adoption. We are so thankful
to God for the gift that Micah is to our family. We are also thankful to everyone that helped
to bring Micah home through prayer and financial donations. God was faithful to provide in big ways!
Now, God has asked our family to step out in faith and obedience to follow
Him again. He has led us to a two-year-old
girl from Shangrao City, China. We have
named her Hannah and she has stolen our hearts.
We wanted to share some details and some ways for you to come alongside
us to give this little girl a loving home and a hope for the future.
You may be thinking, “Why are you adopting again?” or “Why so soon after
Micah’s adoption?” The short answer is God. When He says “Follow me”, you leave your nets
and start walking. We have always felt
God calling our family to adopt more than one child. In fact, before we found Micah, we were originally
looking to adopt a sibling group. God led
us to China, though, and adopting more than one child at a time was unlikely. Nevertheless, our original paperwork with
U.S. Immigration and DCFS was approved to adopt two children.
We knew we would have to wait for God’s perfect timing to bring home another
adopted child. That timing happened to
be revealed to us while we were travelling in China. There we connected with two other families that
were also approved to adopt two children.
Talking with them put a second adoption on our hearts. Additionally, Micah’s transition into our
family went very smoothly. So, a few days
after returning from China we contacted our adoption agency and prayerfully
submitted our application. Since then, God
has given us many more confirmations that this is exactly where our family
needs to be. Is it scary? Yes! Do we trust in Him alone? Yes! The Bible says we are all called to care for
orphans, widows, sojourners, and the poor.
We feel we have been called to care for this one particular orphan
through the miracle of adoption.
The adoption process has moved along quickly since we were able to reuse
most of our paperwork. At this time, our
paperwork has been approved by the Chinese government and we have submitted
paperwork for U.S. immigration. We are
hopeful that we will travel to China in March or April of this year!
Would
you consider joining us in prayer? Pray
that we could be an instrument of God’s grace and a light to the world as we go
through our journey. Pray for Hannah to
be in good health and have a soft heart to join our family. Pray for wisdom and guidance for Matt and
Deanna. Please pray for the details of
the adoption paper work to go smoothly. Pray
for safety during our travels to China.
Lastly, pray for Nathan, Micah, and Claire as they gain a new sibling.
Secondly, would you consider supporting our family through a financial
gift? Hannah’s adoption will cost more
than $30,000. In addition to our
savings, some of that cost will be covered through the U.S. adoption tax
credit, Matt’s employer, and support from our local church, Bethany
Baptist. With all things considered,
though, there is a deficit of over $16,000 to bring Hannah home. God was faithful to provide for Micah’s
adoption and we are confident he will provide for Hannah’s adoption as
well. If you would like to stand beside
us on our journey and help meet this need, please return the enclosed card and
envelope at your earliest convenience.
Thank you in advance for your prayers and your gifts. You are a blessing to our family!
In Christ’s
Service,
Matt,
Deanna, Nathan, Micah, and Claire Marquette
