ADOPTION LETTER!

For years and years we have been trying to conceive a baby. This is such a simple thing to type out, but oh what a difficult thing to live with each day! I remember a time that was extremely difficult and I didn’t know how I was going to face another day. I opened my Bible and cried out before the Lord & I asked Him to hold me. I can honestly say to you that that was one of the best nights of my life because I was cradled in the arms of my Savior; my Refuge, and My Comforter! Had we not gone through infertility I would not have known my Savior in that way. I praise Him for that night & for the pain that brought me to the lap of my Father.
During this time of infertility Chad & I had discussed adoption, but it was something that Chad was not comfortable with. You see, as I’m sure you all know Chad is a passionate man! He doesn’t do anything unless his whole heart and soul are into it or unless God has told him to do it & then he puts his whole heart and soul into it! Adoption wasn’t something he was naturally drawn to like basketball and it wasn’t something God had told him to do…yet. I had always wanted to adopt and since we weren’t able to get pregnant that desire grew for me, but it wasn’t that way for Chad. But instead of my husband convincing himself that he would never be open to adoption, he started praying that if God wanted us to adopt that He would change his heart towards adoption. This is the part where I am writing with very teary, blurry eyes because my husband prayed for YEARS for God to change his heart towards adoption if it’s what God wanted for us and I had no idea this was going on! Every time I think of that I fall in love with him all over again! One morning in August Chad and I were sitting in Panera Bread discussing I have no idea what when he looks at me across the table and out of the blue says, “Babe, I think I’m ready to adopt.” Let me just tell you that if the sun had fallen from the sky and landed in front of me I wouldn’t have been more surprised! HOW GREAT AND MIGHTY AND POWERRFUL IS THE LORD OUR GOD! He shaped and molded our hearts towards HIS plan because before the foundations of the earth He had a child chosen for us…one that we would not conceive, but that HE conceived for us!
So, I guess I have an announcement to make….Chad and I are going to be parents!  After years of sadness, frustration, and pain our Mercy has come. Though the road to our child may be a long one, it’s a road that leads to a child that will be ours…a child God has already chosen for us! We know we will be adopting a girl and her name will be Mercy which means compassion. We chose Mercy because God has been Mercy to us and we believe that it will be through others compassion towards us that our Mercy will come. We also pray that as our child grows that she will live out the meaning of her name!

As I wrote this letter I asked for the Holy Spirit to intervene and give me the words to write. He did just that, but as I was coming to the end I couldn’t quite think of what to say. For a few days I stopped writing and just asked the Holy Spirit to once again lead. Last night I couldn’t sleep and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to read my Bible. I opened up my Bible to this verse.
Psalm 28:6 – “Praise be to the Lord, for He has heard my cry for Mercy.”
 I just want to SCREAM at how awesome our God is! PRAISE BE TO THE LORD because He heard our cry for a child! PRAISE BE TO THE LORD, because He was compassionate to us during all of the dark days when we didn’t know how we would go on! The end of verse 7 says, “My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” Our hearts are leaping for joy at what the Lord has done for us! We hope that you will rejoice with us, too!
As you all know, there is a cost to adopting a child. In order to ransom Mercy’s life we will need between $15,000 and $24,000. We know this is a jaw-dropping amount of money, but at the same time, can we ever put a price on the value of the life of a child? We KNOW without a doubt that God will provide this money for us! He knew Mercy before time began (Psalm 139) and placed adoption on our hearts to align with HIS plan for us! As many of you also know, we went through a very difficult time last year where we were working at a job we loved but were not getting paid. Every month God provided for us in miraculous ways! We intimately know Jehovah-Jireh, The Lord will provide! We are asking each of you reading this to partner with us by praying! Please pray for the health of Mercy and the woman carrying her! Please pray for us as we go through the home study process! Please pray that the Lord will provide! If you feel led to give to help with the cost of the adoption please know that we are honored and grateful! At this point, checks can be made to Chad Snyder and mailed directly to us. After our home study is completed we will set up an account with a non-profit organization so that giving to our adoption can be done with a tax deduction. I will be keeping a blog so that you can know where we are in our journey and follow along with us  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions at all! Thank you for reading this & for rejoicing with us!