We love the truth of Psalm 68:6 that “God
places the lonely in families”. As
our journey has progressed the reality that it is God doing the “placing” has
been ever at the forefront. We
have seen over and over that He is leading this effort and simply asks for our
obedience to follow Him. I wish I
could share personally with each of you the specific ways He has provided in
finances, the choice of our adoption agency and Levi’s placement with us, just
to name a few.
If you know anything about adoption (domestic
or international) you probably know that it is quite expensive...including
travel expenses our adoption will cost about $30,000. Below is an excerpt from a blog post I
wrote last spring that addresses the cost:
Inevitably
in our discussions with people a question arises "why does such a good
thing cost so much?" Its a hard one to answer. Of course there's
bureaucracy and we are dealing with humans so there is bound to be some
corruption. And then there is the fact that nobody does anything for free
so everybody that touches that mound of paperwork wants a dime. Those are
all logical answers for an inquiring number cruncher. But adoption is not
really about that kind of thing. Its about impossibilities and miracles. And
I've known that. I've seen and experienced the financial aspect being about His
fulfillment in our deficiency.
However,
tonight He spoke directly to my heart on the core of the matter. I was
stitching the last bracelet of the evening listening to the Matt Redman album.
The Lord used these lines from “Endless Hallelujah” to help me understand:
I will
see You as You are
Love You
with unsinning heart
And see how much You paid to bring me home
Not till
then, Lord, shall I know
Not till
then, how much I owe
Everything
I am before Your throne
We'll see how much He paid
to bring us home. That's it. The cost of adoption is a gift from God. A gift which mirrors - so cloudily - the
price He paid to bring us home. Being in the middle of this thing - that
number with all the zeros staring us down- this revelation is like honey. I am
honored to walk out this price-paying, for in it I see more of Jesus. And now I
have an answer for all who ask me. The Gospel. Sweet Jesus Gospel.
After
choosing to answer God’s call for us to adopt, in June 2011 we stepped "Out On a Limb" into the journey of raising financial support. For the first year we focused on using
the creative gifts God has given us making bow ties and then fabric cuff style
bracelets made from upcycled material. With the help of family and friends we
also held 3 garage sales. In the
midst of these efforts, God called several others to be involved by giving
extremely substantial amounts.
Working
creatively together through Out On a Limb was a huge blessing for our
family. I enjoyed growing in my
gifts and Andrew explored new gifts of creativity previously unknown to
him. It was teamwork in a whole
new way for us. As we round the
bend toward the last leg of our fundraising the Lord has placed before us
another fitting and stretching avenue.
Most of you know that Andrew has spent more than two-thirds of his life
in running shoes and shorts too short to be worn in public. He’s completed several marathons and
one even on a “whim” with practically no training (we will not discuss whether
this classifies him as all-star or fool).
On the other hand, I have only taken up running just recently….and I
still hesitate to use the word “running” to describe my movement across the
pavement.
With
a few loose ends to tie up in our adoption, we’re lacing up our running shoes
and hitting the road….aiming to make the final strides in our fundraising
efforts. (all those puns were
carefully thought through and fully intended J) We’ve set our sites on the Knoxville Marathon (half-marathon
for me) to be held on April 7th, 2013. And we’d love for you to join us….here’s how:
·
Go green for Levi! Would you replace the laces
of your tennies with neon green laces? Let those laces serve as a reminder to lift Levi's journey home up in prayer each time you tie your shoes. If you haven't received a pair from us, send us an email at robinscharff@yahoo.com and we'll slip them in the mail to you.
·
Come to Knoxville with us on
April 7th! Have you been
waiting for a good reason to run a marathon? There are options for everyone: full marathon,
half-marathon, 2 person marathon relay, 4 person marathon relay and 5K. Whether
you simply run to raise awareness of adoption through our family’s story or
join in our fundraising effort by acquiring financial sponsorships from friends
and family – we’d love to have a whole crew of us out there! Visit here for more details about the race.
·
Support our efforts through
a financial contribution. Our total
fundraising goal is $12,000. All
donations are tax deductible. Checks
can be made payable to Calvary Chapel, please write “Adoption Fund - Scharff”
in the memo. Any funds raised
which surpass our goal will support other adopting families within Calvary
Chapel Chattanooga.
Calvary Chapel
3415 South Broad Street
Chattanooga TN 37409
No matter how the Lord is calling you to participate, we’d love
to continue to share this journey with you. Keep up with us here on the blog or Facebook.
Blessings,
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