Why Start Extend Your Tent

Our initial blog post is covering the “why” start Extend Your Tent.  We feel it’s important for those we reach to understand our reasoning behind the decision to move forward with a non-profit/ministry.  As we looked back through the adoption journey of our daughter we saw three big hurdles: financial, informational, and encouragement(or fear).  Obviously we decided to focus on those three subjects as a basis for our ministry. Then as we see adoption stories unfold it’s impossible not to share the Gospel through God’s goodness.  

The greatest thing about the adoption journey is the way you see the Lord work throughout.  You never know how, or where, He’s going to work next, but He always did as our journey unfolded.  Once we said “yes” to adoption we had no idea what to do next, BUT God knew. He knew we had a friend in our small group that was good friends with a woman who runs an amazing adoption consultant company.  Then as we moved along in the process we had some situations come up that we thought had to be our child. When they fell through, or the birth parents picked another family, it left us questioning and doubting what was going on.  BUT God knew exactly who He had picked out for our family(Ephesians 1:4-6). Once we said “yes” to the opportunity of our daughter in Hawaii we had so many logistical and financial fears, BUT God knew it would work out. We want to encouragement others that He will come through along your journey just as clear and amazing as He did for us.  

On the informational side it can just be overwhelming with all of the different agencies, attorneys, consultants, etc… Throw on top of that the different financial options out there and it can become cumbersome.  Something we have learned starting a non-profit is when you Google something there are so many options out there and you don’t know what or who to trust. Personally, I would rather talk with someone over the phone or meet face to face if possible to discuss our needs, desires, and answer questions for our situation.  In doing this research we have also come to realize there are some amazing organizations out there trying to serve others. How can we help bring those organization to the people we are serving and not get lost in the “google search”. This hurdle can cause a lot of stress and anxiety when you first start looking into adoption.  Where do I go next? How do I do this? Who can I trust? Those are legitimate questions that you need answered at the beginning stages of your process. We want to consolidate those resources to help prospective families with their initial questions.

Then there’s the big hurdle…...the average cost of a domestic infant adoption being between $35,000 to $40,000 is an obvious hurdle.  Not many families have that kind of money sitting around. We were blessed to have had some of the money and then help from our family to cover this large cost.  However, when we said “yes” to the situation that brought us our daughter, we did not have all the funds secured but had faith the Lord would provide, and He did.  Thankfully we were able to come out of this without any/much debt which is not the same for a lot of families. We feel the Lord provided us this opportunity to be debt free after the adoption so we had a thankful heart and a desire to give back and help those that may not have some of the resources we did.   

We’re here to provide financial resources when the cost seems insurmountable, provide direction to help you navigate through in this time of information overload, and encourage you that the Lord will come through no matter the mountains in front of you.  It may not, actually it WILL NOT, play out the way we are anticipating, but that’s the exciting part of the journey. How boring would it be if we knew exactly where our child would come from and how we would acquire the funding? Where is the faith and hope in that?(Romans 8:24)  We grew closer as a couple and our relationship with God grew bigger than we could ever have imagined. We had no idea we would go to Hawaii to get our daughter, BUT God knew and He knew that the journey we went on physically and spiritually would lead us to a desire in our hearts(Psalm 37:4) to start an adoption ministry.  

So we encourage you to reach out if you have questions or to say “yes” to the journey God has in-store for you.  Don’t blame us if He changes your life and puts you on a path you would have never imagined.

We plan on doing a blog per week and will have guest bloggers along the way as well.  Please share our post and don’t forget to check out our website for more information. Next week we’ll share on why the name Extend Your Tent and a more in depth look at Isaiah 54:2.  

If you have questions we would love to speak with you further.  We are here to encourage, support, and inform along the way. Please visit our website at https://www.extendyourtent.org/contact-us-2/  and please share this blog with your friends and family.  You never know who it may reach.