We would like to introduce to you our new featured family of the week, Bryan and Samantha Schoenecke.
I'll let Samantha tell you a little about their story:
In the fall of 2011 when we had been married for about a year and a half, we both felt like God was speaking to us that it was time to begin having a family. The timing didn't make complete sense as I had been having some health problems, and we thought that a move might be in our near future, but we trusted God that His timing was/is perfect. By the summer of 2012, we had had 3 miscarriages and really began to pray about where God would have us go from there. We saw a specialist wondering if maybe we should do some medical testing, but God made it really evident that we were not to pursue any further testing, at least for right now. About this same time, a friend of a friend asked us to adopt her beautiful newborn son. We said, "Yes!" and were so excited to welcome him into our family! Sadly, after we had loved this sweet boy as our son for 11 days, his mom changed her mind and decided to parent him. We were heartbroken. Our time with him did really stir our hearts for domestic adoption though, and after much prayer, we began the home study process officially. In November 2012, we were matched with a birth mom who was expecting a baby girl. We spent many long hours getting to know her over the phone and over Skype. We even made two trips across the country to visit her in person. After two months, she let us know that she too had changed her mind about her decision. Now we are waiting to be matched again, and hopeful that our next match will be our precious firstborn baby!
Even though it has not been an easy journey, God has been so faithful! This process has really strengthened our marriage and united us as teammates. We've also both grown so much in our relationships with the Lord and are learning to place our hope in Him rather than in the hope of growing our family.
As the Schoenecke's wait for their match, let's show them love, dollar by dollar.
Beautiful video. We'll be thinking of you and you're both in our prayers. Ruth
ReplyDeleteYou are in our prayers!
ReplyDeleteWe are expecting our second baby (through adoption) in the next 2 weeks, but experienced a failed adoption this time last year, so my heart goes out to you all. Praying that the Lord would bless you all in unimaginable ways.
ReplyDeleteWe have also been fundraising over the last 2 months and we've seen how friends and strangers alike have come alongside of us, so I donated, too!
I'd love to share some other fundraising ideas that worked for us if you're interested. You can email me at STCBlogNC {at} hotmail {dot} com.
In Christ,
Christie