Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Pollards Are Having a Girl!

Some of you know we have felt called by God to adopt a daughter from the country of Moldova, so every night our family prays for a girl we have never met. We don't know what she looks like, we don't know anything about her background, but we know she is supposed to be with us. Every night our boys pray, "God, take care of our baby sister and help her come home soon." My heart melts every time.
 
We recently heard a father share his adoption story. His daughter (whom they adopted from China) was talking to her new dad one night about how soft her new bed was compared the hard ones she had to sleep on in China. She then asked her dad, "What took you so long?" When I heard that father share this story, my heart went immediately to Moldova. Even as I sit and type these words, tears well up. It's hard when you know your daughter is somewhere in a Moldovan orphanage thinking, "I wonder when someone is going to come. What is taking them so long?"
 
We want her prayers to be answered. We want her to come home soon. There are over 147 million orphans worldwide and it is estimated that less than 10 percent of these children are adopted into evangelical Christian families. We’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt and we want to obey Him. We also desire to give an orphan child a family that she probably wouldn’t otherwise have. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for, and adopted into Christian families—ultimately so they can become saved and adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ.

 
The biggest challenge is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is finding the finances to make this happen. The estimated total cost for the adoption is $30,000. That’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $2,700.
Honestly it’s a little difficult (because of our pride) to make our needs known to our friends and family, but we would like you to consider helping us in one or two ways with our adoption:
 
1. Please pray that God would tenderly care for our daughter in Moldova until we are able to bring her home. Pray that God would prepare me, Leslie, Luke, Noah and Adam for the upcoming changes to our family and God will give us wisdom, discernment and insight as we raise our daughter to know and follow Jesus.
 
2. Will you please consider giving a financial gift to help cover a portion of the remaining adoption expenses to bring our daughter home?
 
We have set up an account with Lifesong for Orphans to help with funding our adoption. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-raising costs. That means 100% of your donation will go directly to funding the adoption. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization so all gifts are tax deductible.
 
There are two ways to give:
1. Online (easiest, fastest way to give). Go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate/. Select "Give to an Adoptive Family." Complete the online form and fill in the "Family Account Number" and "Family Name" fields. Our account number is 4045. The Family Name is Pollard.
 
2. By mail. Please make checks payable to "Lifesong for Orphans." In the memo, note "#4045 Pollard" to assure it goes to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744.
 
God has called us to His rescue mission of caring for orphans (James 1:27). We are humbled by His call and we are trusting Him to provide all we need for the journey. We may not be able to save all of the children in Moldova, but by God's grace we are going to find our daughter and bring her home.
 
Thank you for loving orphans with us. We are eager for our daughter to come home. We can't wait to meet her and shower her with love...and we hope you get to meet her soon as well.
 
Following His Heart,
Robby, Leslie, Luke, Noah and Adam