OUR NEWEST ADDITIONS!!!

So confession time...we STINK at blogging!!  Pretty much the only time we post is when we have big news.  It's okay because it's certainly the most fun to read, right?!!  We will do our best to post more often, because we will have regular updates to share.  This is incredible and as we type the words we cannot even believe what we are saying!!!!  WE ARE ADOPTING FOUR LITTLE GIRLS!!!

For those of you who don't have time to read how the story unfolds, PLEASE PRAY that God will continue to perform miracles. I'm sure you can guess that adopting these four girls is going to be VERY expensive, even with the agency giving significant discounts.  We have to come up with $45,000 right away and then we will still have two round trip and three one-way tickets to buy (the youngest girl is under two, so she will still be free), along with other travel expenses.  We need to have the majority of the money to the agency as quickly as possible, so that we can start the process of getting them home.  The DRC is very poor–much worse than Ethiopia.  The wealthiest of the people and the kids living in orphanages are well off if they get one meal a day. The process only takes about 6-8 months and as soon as we get our money in, we can get this process started!!!  We do not know why God would choose us to parent 12 children, but we do know, with ALL our hearts, that we will not ever say no to Him when He specifically brings these kids into our path.

We weren't thinking we were going to need to come up with money this quickly, yet we know that God has all money in the world.  Please join us in prayer on our behalf and on the behalf of these sweet girls!  Thank you for reading and thank you for praying.  If you feel God calling you to give to, you can send a tax deductible gift to Journey Church, 1794 E Baxter Lane, Bozeman, MT 59718 with a sticky note that says "Hopkins Adoption" or there is a Donate button to the right that also goes directly to Journey so it will also be tax deductible.  Please type "Hopkins Adoption" in the comment line.

If you want to read how the story unfolds, here goes...

Most of you know that we have been waiting on a list for a referral for an infant/toddler girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo since about June.  We were expecting to get a referral sometime early this year and then we would go get her 6-8 months later.

Then, out of the blue a couple weeks ago when we were at Bailey's Christmas program, our friend who leads our orphan ministry was sitting by us. She handed her phone to us with a picture of four girls on it–all sisters from the DRC. The picture was terrible quality and we knew nothing except that the agency they are placed with is looking for a home for them.  Danna looked at their faces–the little she could see anyway–and thought how sweet they were and then didn't think about them again.  That Sunday at church, listening to Brian's message, the girls suddenly popped into Danna's head.  Her mind flooded with all the reasons that we were not the family to adopt these girls.  "We have eight children, our life is crazy, our kids are finally out of the infant/toddler stage, it will be SO expensive, where will we put them, on and on the list goes."  The thought of FOUR Ethiopian children, FOUR biological children and FOUR Congolese children suddenly crossed Danna's mind.  She was instantly filled with peace.  We believe that numbers are significant to God and Danna knows that it was not HER that thought of those girls, but rather God placing them on her heart.  God has also blessed our lives with kids one at a time (Bailey, Jazzy, Kenzie) two at a time (Dyl and Pres), three at at time (Silas, Josh and Mahlea) and now FOUR at a time!!!

Still... it was crazy, so Danna started the process thinking that maybe she was simply supposed to pray for the girls. She asked Brian what he thought and he said that we should at least ask the agency about them.  The first email we got back (Wed of last week) from the agency said that we have too many children to adopt from the DRC.  However, the very next day we got another email saying that they are willing to talk to the DRC government and see if they will make an exception, because the girls have been waiting so long.  The agency has actually been thinking that they may have to separate the girls, so that they can at least find them all a family, even if it's not together (and that REALLY breaks our hearts!).

Last Friday night, Brian did a wedding for the youngest daughter of some of our close friends.  While we sat at the reception listening to their amazing stories of their memories together and how incredible their relationships are, Danna began to cry.  Because these girls were born in America, they got to grow up together.  The possibility that these four precious babies–because they were born in a third world country and have no parents–could be sent to different families and never know that "sister relationship" is not okay!

After many conversations with our social worker, the agency, each other, our kids, and MUCH prayer in the last couple of weeks, we feel like they are our girls and just like in our past two adoptions, God has led us to them.  I'm pretty sure that we always express how crazy we are, but THIS certainly takes the cake!!  One of Danna's all time favorite books is Kisses From Katie.  This is what she says about crazy and impossible and we love it!

"And I realized when have you ever read a story of God's great work that made a lot of sense, a story that didn't seem a little over the top, a little impossible? Radical, extraordinary love just doesn't make sense in a fallen world, that doesn't mean it can't happen.  But it is the very nature of God.  Moses parted the Red Sea, and I bet people thought, 'No way is this happening!'  Noah spent 120 years building an ark and I bet people thought he was crazy.  When Joshua went to Jericho, God told him to march around the city once each day for six days and seven times on the seventh day with seven priests blowing trumpets made of rams' horns.  I bet Joshua didn't think that made much sense.  I bet Abraham didn't think it made a whole lot of sense when God asked him to kill the son through whom He had promised to send nations.  Jesus told his disciples to pass out five loaves of bread and two fishes to over five thousand people and I bet they looked at Him like He was crazy! Later, Jesus told Peter to walk to him on the water through a storm and I know Peter was afraid.  We read these stories and think they are awesome examples of God's power and love and yet sometimes we don't really believe they could still be possible.  We think that maybe Moses, Abraham, Joshua, Noah, or the disciples had something we don't.  But I don't think that is true, God is the same yesterday, today and always.  And we are all created in His image.  This means that all these impossible things could just as easily happen for us too!  Radical, different, extraordinary . . . They still exist!  Here is the thing.  I want big things from God.  We want big things from God and then think it's strange when He asks us to build an ark or feed five thousand or march around a building for seven days with seven priests blowing trumpets made from rams' horns.  I am asking for big things from God.  Big things like a van  can take my whole family to church in and a house with ten showers.  Bigger things like 147 million orphaned children in the world to  each have a mommy who knows what they like for dinner.  So really, I am not surprised at the craziness of my life.  Every morning, as I wake up with some impossible task in front of me, I know that God will meet it with impossible strength and love.  I serve the God who used Moses, a murderer, to part the Red Sea; a God who let Peter, who would deny Him, walk on water.  A God who looks at me, in all my fallen weakness and says, 'You can do the impossible'."


Thank you for your prayers for these girls and our family.  Please feel free to share our story!