Building our adoption fundraiser puzzle

Over a year ago, together with our GoFundMe profile, we nervously launched a puzzle fundraiser to help ease the financial burden of our international adoption. The response was something only a great and gracious God could have orchestrated. We were able to sell 812 puzzle pieces and raise over $20,300!! While we still have large travel expenses (two trips to South Korea) up ahead we have no doubt that God will provide and ultimately FULLY FUND our adoption of Brooks. GOD BE PRAISED for the generosity of so many of our family and friends who have given freely of their gifts so that Brooks can come into our family. We have cried so many tears of gratitude over the outpouring of love we have received over the last year. There is no way to ever repay each of you for what you have given the three of us, but know we will forever be grateful for how you surrounded us during this time.

The past couple weeks we have all been able to sit and think about our lives a little more. We pray you’ve been able to take this time to reconnect with the ones you love and to gain a deeper connection with your Savior. At the beginning of our journey, when we decided to create a blog to record our path towards our son we chose the title, “Jars like us”, as the theme based on the apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians chapter 4, verses 7-18. These verses still hold so much meaning to us and seem very fitting for what our world is facing right now. We are all broken, imperfect vessels. We are not immune to suffering and pain in this life. Death will one day take us and everything we know. But in us, these jars of clay, we have a message of joy living inside of us. A message of hope that we hold onto and a message we get to share. Suddenly, the suffering in this life has a purpose. Instead of focusing on the cracks of pain, we focus on the Deliverer. Instead of being frustrated about the waiting, we celebrate it as a God-given opportunity to continue to bring the light of Christ to the world.

He makes all things work together for his glory and for our good.

We will be spending the upcoming, quarantined days building the 1,000-piece fundraiser puzzle for Brooks. Each piece that was purchased bears the name of each generous giver. We fully intend to pray over each piece as we build the puzzle that will ultimately hang in our son’s room in a double-sided glass frame. It will serve as a family keepsake for many years to come. The names on the back of each piece being one of the most beautiful displays of God’s grace and faithfulness in our lives.

We are immensely grateful to be surrounded by a community of believers who believe in the priority of adoption and orphan care. Please continue to be a part of our story and continue with us on our adoption journey at jarslikeus.com.