July 6, 2016
Hello Friends and
Family,
Praise God from whom
all blessings flow.
As most of you know,
our family is in the process of expanding by two little feet. Three and a half years have passed since God
had first laid the idea of adoption heavy on our hearts and so much has changed
since we began the process back in February 2013. When we first began our journey to adopt, we
felt God had called us to adopt from Ethiopia. Therefore, we began the
paperwork and 8 months later we were on a waiting list to adopt a little girl
from Africa. However, two years into our wait, God brought us to a crossroad
where we could continue on our path to Africa or follow His lead. Because we
know that God’s plan is ultimately greater than our own, we decided to follow
the path God laid before us and we began the process of switching our adoption
to China’s Waiting Children List. Currently, we are around number 5-7ish on our
agency’s list to adopt a little girl…our little girl. Our agency anticipates
that our waiting time could be as little as 6 months from the time we submitted
our paperwork to China before we are matched with our daughter. We anticipate
and prayerfully hope that we are traveling before the end of the year.
While the wait is
hard, we know that every day that passes means we are one day closer to
bringing our little girl home. We know
God’s timing is perfect, He knows where our little girl is at this very moment
and He has His ever loving eye watching over and protecting her. There is such great comfort in knowing that
the Creator of the Universe is watching over our little girl and will continue
to do so even after we are holding her tight in our arms.
Needless to say after
three and a half years, we are incredibly excited to see light at the end of
the tunnel of our journey to bringing our daughter home!!! But while this is a very exciting time for
our family, it also has the potential to be a very stressful time as well. The devil is always lurking around, waiting
to devour and destroy. As we face mountains
of additional paperwork, prepare our hearts for leaving our two children in the
USA while we travel to China and plan our trip to a foreign country, it would
be easy to become frightened and scared of the unknown. If we allow the devil to intervene in our
hearts and minds, the process of adopting can seem downright terrifying and
impossible. But we know that with and
through God, all things are possible.
God has called us to this path and we know that He will lead the way as
long as we trust in His ultimate plan and look to Him for guidance. As we continue forward, we are asking for our
family and friends to partner with us in prayer for our family; for strength,
courage and continued faithfulness in Him.
We also ask for prayers for our children, both here in the USA and our
little girl in China, who are about to have their lives completely turned
upside down, that they feel God’s comfort and peace. Lastly, please join us in praying for all
adoptive families and for the orphan crisis around the world.
Over the course of
these past three and a half years, we believe God has grown us as a family in
so many ways. One of the biggest areas
of our lives affected was our faith. We have
learned firsthand that God calls us to be more than comfortable in our
lives. In fact, sometimes He calls us
out of our comfort zone and wants us to trust that He will make ends meet. We have found that when we truly surrender to
Him in all areas of our lives, He will bless us more than we ever
imagined. As I mentioned above, we are
prayerfully hoping to travel to China in 2016 to bring our little girl
home. Currently, based off our adoption
agency estimates, we are around $23,900 short of being able to fully finance
our adoption (this includes travel expenses).
Because we had initially begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia,
most of our fundraising efforts in the past were depleted. While this may sound discouraging, we are
holding onto the hope and faith that God will help piece together the financial
aspect of our adoption. God has already
been working miracles and we are excited to announce the most recent blessings
we have received from our Heavenly Father.
Through the Grace of God, we have recently been blessed to be selected
by Lifesong for Orphans to receive a matching grant for $2000 from Family
Christian Ministries of West Michigan!! Therefore, every donation we receive,
Family Christian Ministries will match in donations up to $2000. Will you please consider making a
tax-deductible donation to help us meet this matching grant and bring us closer
to being able to bring our little girl home?
If you would like to
partner with us financially:
*Please make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans. In the memo
- note “Ayres/#6091” - this assures it will go to the correct account. Please
mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744.
-Or-
*Another option is to give online. Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select “Give to an Adoptive Family.” Complete
the online form and fill in Family Account Number: 6091 and Family Name:
Ayres
Thank you for loving
us, we are among the richest people in the world with all the relationships we
have and the community of people we belong to who displays the Splendor of
Jesus. We can’t wait for our family to
all be together!!
For the Glory of
Jesus,
Nic, Nicole, Jaxon
and Evelynn Ayres
Lifesong has been
blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and
fund-raising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your
donation will go directly to our adoption. In following IRS guidelines, your donation is
to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion
over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use. Individual donations of $50 or more and
yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt.
Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is
a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.
