Adopting

Dear Friends and Family, 11/21/2009

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the holiday season. Leigh Ann & I have some pretty cool news to share with you. We believe with all our hearts God is orchestrating a fresh work within our family.

Some of you may be aware that Leigh Ann has had the desire to adopt a child for several years now. I, on the other hand, have been somewhat apprehensive, though I always considered it a noble endeavor. Deep down, I believed God would make the timing clear, but I assumed it would be years down the road. Recently I made the decision to support Leigh Ann by attending the Lake Point adoption conference. I honestly thought she would discover some creative ways to serve in the adoption ministry and plug in as a volunteer.

About halfway through the conference, we had the opportunity to visit with several adoption agencies and ministries designed to connect people to serve in numerous ways in the cause of the orphan. We finished walking down a row of agencies along the right-sided wall of the set-up room. As I made a left hand turn to proceed down the last section of booths, a brunette haired lady faced us. We had no choice but to stop and speak to her. After introducing ourselves to our new friend Elizabeth, she shared her story as an adopted child among five and her family’s calling to work with Russia in placing orphaned children in families.

In that moment, I felt God’s prompting. My distant interest in adoption blossomed into a God given desire to continue this conversation. As I walked away, I looked at Leigh Ann and said, “I think we’re adopting a Russian boy.” As you can imagine her jaw dropped and she waited for me to tell her a punch line. She’d done everything she could to generate interest within me to adopt—but to no avail. We continued walking down the hall and I said again, “God just orchestrated that conversation with Elizabeth. For the 2nd time in thirty-three years, I feel like God is actually leading me in a specific way to adopt.” I could not get Russian adoption out of my heart and mind.

We left the conference amazed, wondering, Is this really God moving our hearts or is this indigestion? We decided to let it marinate for the afternoon and evening, but we only made it to 5pm before we emailed and called the contact at the adoption agency. We researched everything we could late into the night and prayed together asking God for guidance and affirmation. As the next few days went by, our desires grew. By Wednesday of that week, we didn’t merely consider adoption, we would do it.

After receiving the breakdown of cost and long timelines, we felt overwhelmed at the cost involved and briefly questioned whether adoption was possible for us or not. The cost is $23,400 plus travel and three medical exams in Russia. We prayed and researched scholarship opportunities and other avenues to raise funds for the adoption. We committed the process and finances to the Lord. By God’s grace, we hope to adopt a little boy. We’ve decided to name him Andrew.

We needed $3000 for the first three months to get started. Within 48 hours of committing the process to God, I received a phone call from my company informing me that I had been nominated for a sales/leadership award in October and named the winner that day. My boss told me to expect an additional $1500 in my November paycheck! WOW! I’ve never been one to ask or expect signs, but this was the most clear message of affirmation from God I’d ever experienced. Truly amazing!

I share this to give you a glimpse of what God has called Leigh Ann and me to do and to demonstrate the faithfulness and power of our awesome God. We have a long road ahead of us and much remains of the adoption process. Russia has 900,000 orphans, many who are orphaned from poverty, disease and abuse. The need is obvious and the call is clear. James 1:27 says, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” God chose orphans and widows to accentuate the imperative call for the church to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. It is our prayer that God finish what he has started. It’s our desire to rescue one of these little ones in desperate need of a family to love and care for him, who otherwise will likely enter a life of drug abuse, crime or worse unless we act. Russia is a country full of people who need Jesus and we hope to lead the one we adopt to Christ.

We invite each of you to join us on this journey, first in prayer and second through raising the funds to bring Andrew home. Please pray specifically for Andrew’s physical, spiritual, and emotional health, as well as his safety. Please do not feel any pressure to give financially. We just ask that you pray about this. If you feel led to give, we obviously would be deeply grateful. We commit full transparency so you can be confident your contributions are going directly to Andrew’s adoption.

Thankfully, through researching creative avenues to raise support, we have already discovered two re-imbursement opportunities post adoption. First, my company generously donates $10,000 toward my adoption on the back end (assuming I’m still employed). Second, the United States government allows an $11,000 tax credit. So, including the $2180 provided this past week, the remaining funds needed to complete the adoption are approximately $15,500 over the course of the adoption, most of which is needed in the first 4-6 months.

We leave you with this story of our God truly caring enough for the orphan to move our hearts to bring one home. Please join us in the journey. We can’t wait to share how God brings Andrew to our family.

Regards and Blessings,

Michael, Leigh Ann, Kennedy and Mika Cagle