Better Story

Me:

I am 28 years old. I m married to my best friend and I love that we live our story together. We have four kids. Jada is 4 1/2 years old with red hair and she always asks questions. Emery is almost 3 and she does not believe in wearing cloths. My boys are both 6 months old and I am convinced that they do not want us to sleep.

Honestly, I am coming to the seminar from Pittsburgh Pa as a personal retreat. The purpose of my time there will be to get clarity for my family and our story.

Dream:

My wife and I want awaken the church to Gods heart for orphans.

We adopted our sons and we plan to adopt more kids in the future, but thats another story.

Our next step is to start a nonprofit/coffee shop in an abandon feed mill. Since we were dating my wife and I have been dreaming of opening a coffee shop with a mission. My wife and I enjoy serving people, creating memorable environments and providing a place for community. We want the coffee and other goods we sell and services we provide to directly benefit strategic missions, like providing christian trauma counseling for Ugandan child solders.

We also want the nonprofit to share the untold stories of these fatherless children through video and other media (think invisible children style). Imagine what would happen if there were no orphans to supply the child sex trade market, or to wage war on behalf of cowards who hide in jungles. If Gods people dont scoop up the fatherless and love them, someone will grab them to use them. I want to take cameras to these precious children to capture their reality and bring it home to tell their story. I want to invite people to become a hero in a hurting childs story.

Conflict:

I currently work for a nonprofit that works with at risk kids out of Pittsburgh. So when do I walk away from one ministry to start another and still feed my family?

Becoming a non profit/ mission/ board/ branding/ fundraising/ and other fun stuff

Buying feed mill and starting coffee shop

Solidifying partnerships with the ministry we support

Acquiring storytelling tools. Cameras, video editing software, computers.

We want to be a family that fights for the orphan. It will be a lifetime of conflict.

Thanks for reading.

Matto

Days Away

By this time next week we could have two sons, thats right, two baby boys. We might go from two car seats to four in a week. I hope our worlds get rocked with that new reality. I will share more details and stories if things work out.

Pray for us.

Pray for those precious little boys.

Pray for the birthfamilies.

Hopefully we will be updating you all with good news soon. Thanks for being a part of this story.

I have become a bit lazy with the blog. It has been difficult to post updates when its been over a year of working and waiting to adopt. Many cases have come and gone. We have been matched with babies (officially and unofficially) over the past year, but they have all fallen through.

Honestly, we have been discouraged and tired of sharing bad news.

Sorry to the two or three of you that read this blog, sorry for being lazy in recent months with the updates. I am back in the lab and you are welcome to track with us on our adoption journey.

Thank you for your prayers and support, this has been an amazing journey, and it is only the beginning of an amazing story.

Hey everyone,
We just wanted everyone to know that we have been chosen buy a birth mom to take her little baby girl! She is due to be born August 3oth. She is 1/4 Caucasian, 1/4 Japanese and 1/2 African American. We are so excited to finally get our little baby that we have been praying for, for so long.
A couple of prayer requests; one is just that she is healthy because her birth mom has been doing some drugs while pregnant, mainly cocaine. She has quit on June 1st but we are still praying that she was protected to all she was exposed to in the womb. Another prayer request is that the birth mom does not change her mind; her name is Danielle if you want to pray for her by name. She is going to have a tough 48 hours with her, but once she signs at discharge from the hospital her rights are terminated.
Some more great news is that we have raised $16,000. Praise the Lord!! Everyone has been so generous and has blessed us in more ways than one. We still have a little more then $3,000 to raise but we are not worried at all that the Lord won't provide. He has been in this whole process with us.
We have had some heart ache in this process and times of anxiety, but God has taught us patience and how we have to trust Him or we will go crazy with worry. We are excited to meet the newest edition to our family and the girls are so excited to have a "little, little baby sister" like Jada says.
We love you all and thank you so much for all the prayers that were laid at the Fathers feet on our behalf. You guys are amazing.
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything."
1 John 3:18-20

Across the Line

We did it! We crossed the finish line. It only took us 5 hours and 22 minutes of running, and we did it!

Thank you all for your prayers, I needed them. My foot did not get better, but I was able to finish.
It was the most painful morning of my life.

I have been reflecting on the experience quite a bit since race day and will share in the next blog some of my thoughts.

Worth the Cost

Everybody asks, "why does adoption cost so much?"

Its a great question. The short answer is, because its a ton of work that requires professional help.

I think while that is a good question, its the wrong question. My question to you is what is a life worth? What is a child worth? 19,000 dollars? What price tag would you put on a baby?

The point is every life is precious. These babies are priceless. You and I can not begin to understand their value. I have met so many people who say, oh we would love to adopt, but it cost so much. That is only true if you go for private adoption, the government will pay you to raise kids in the system, but there is a different kind of cost involved there. But think about that statement, it cost to much? I know what people mean, its cost a lot of money and most people cant afford it. But is adoption your idea or Gods. If God has put adoption on your heart, whats the hold up? How big is your God?

How about this; you are on a picnic table with God, his son Jesus and a young boy sitting across from you, your spouse, and the holy spirit. So you start talking about the weather and the normal superficial stuff we wast moments on, then God interrupts the small talk to introduce this young child. "He has a question for you" God says with a soft look on his face. So you turn you attention to this young man. "Why didn't you adopt me" he asks? "I am sure you are wonderful people but I just want to know what kept me from the love and safety of your home? You see, I would cry myself to sleep every night begging God to give me a mommy and daddy, and each morning I would wake with the hope of a family only cry myself to sleep again. What kept you from me?"

How would you answer that. What would your reason be? If God has yoked you with a burden for orphans, what keeps you from being the answer to their prayers?

God loves adoption. His true Son Jesus loves adoption as well. They have adopted countless orphans. If you are in God family let me ask you this, what was your price tag?

I am so thankful that God and His son thought we are worth the cost.

If you were on that picnic table what would that conversation look like? What question would God ask you about the orphans, or widows? How about your neighbors or your enemies. Or the sick, alien, imprisoned, the lost. Have you been close enough to the heart of God to have your heart break. Have you been yoked with a burden for others that boils the marrow in your bones?

If its Gods idea, just move. He will make a way. Every life is worth the cost. Just ask the Father and His Son.

Every life is worth it.

20

Monday morning I met my brother Seth and good friend Brett for our 20 mile long run. This was to be our longest run to date. We were a little nervous, not about the distance so much, but because we were all nursing bum body parts. Seth has barely been able to train for this race due to a bad ankle, Brett has been nursing a bum knee and I have felt like I have a nail in my heal. Regardless, we all showed up at 6:30 am on the North side to conquer 20, and...

...we did it! It was not pretty, but we finished. It was a good run. Seth and Brett ended the run with their bum parts feeling pretty normal, well, as normal as you can feel after running 20 miles. I hurt my bum foot by jumping over a median while dodging oncoming traffic at the first 2 mile marker, and that started some discomfort that kind of intensified as we continued to run. I was doing OK with the bum foot and I was able to ignore the pain since I was running with my bros and having good conversations and stuff. The nerves in my foot started yelling at my brain around 14 miles, that was no fun but then the nerves shut up for a while and I was happy until about 16 miles when those same nerves in my foot started cursing at my brain. Needless to say, they sent all kinds of nasty signals the last 4 miles causing my body to slow way down. But hey, I finished. My bros waited up for me despite my pitiful pace. It was a good day.

I also discovered that I have the bladder of a tiny child, which will be interesting come race day.

I am praying that my foot will be OK come race day. Its going to be difficult enough to complete this race as a 250 pound non runner so I would rather not have to limp the 26.2 miles. We will see. I am will cross that finish line one way or another. I think some times when we step out in faith and obedience we think OK God I am ding this "good thing, aren't you proud of me" and we expect the floodgates of blessing to be opened upon us, but instead we find ourselves trudging through the valley of the shadow saying "what the heck". That's when the good stuff happens, when your chest deep in the pains and sorrows of this broken world and all you can do is extend your hand up and cry out for help. That's when God moves in us and through us. That is when He can be glorified.

If my foots gets better, its because God is good and He has answered my cry, and if it does not it simply means He got a better idea. We will see.