We're Here!

Well friends, we have arrived!!  It was a long but uneventful trip. Praise the Lord! We made all of our connections, all of our luggage was ready and waiting for us when we arrived at the baggage carousel, we were greeted by a very friendly face, our helpful and wonderful guide, Mitko, and we've checked in to a lovely hotel in Sofia and just enjoyed a relaxing dinner. I'd say our first day was a success!

Anna has been the perfect travel companion. She's traveled many times before and is great at navigating confusing airports (Paris...whoa!), and she's calm and has a positive attitude, which has been great to counteract some of my anxiousness. Her company is very much a blessing. Jon and Ishmael, thank you for letting me borrow her!

And we've already made a few friends. There was a lovely couple from the UK in the lobby when we arrived. They heard us speaking English and struck up a conversation about why we're here. I'm learning how impossible it is to explain this crazy life I'm living without explaining Jesus. He's the reason all of this is happening and the reason it makes sense. 

We also ran into another couple who is adopting through Reece's Rainbow. They're bringing their daughter home this trip! How great is that?! I'm so excited for them. I hope we'll run into them again and have the opportunity to meet their little girl. I think that would be a sweet reminder, after saying goodbye to Sam, that my baby's time is coming.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in, which will be a great blessing after a long day of travel. At noon our sweet and very accommodating guide will pick us up and drive us to Pleven. We're told the drive should take around three hours. Once we arrive, our only plans for the rest of the day are to get settled in our hotel and to prepare for my first visit with Sam. I'm getting so excited and nervous! Please keep praying for our interactions. Pray that I might greet her with a gentle and quiet spirit, and that I will keep my eyes on Jesus and trust Him for all of our needs.

My eyes are drooping so I think I'd better get some sleep. Thank you all for your continued prayers. Love to each of you.

The Most Important Person I Have Ever Met

I'm not quite sure how to put into words the enormity of this journey I'm on. All I know is that tomorrow, when I step on that plane, I will be heading toward the most important thing I have ever done. The most important person I have ever met.

For as long as I can remember, the Lord has been blessing me with opportunities to serve Him. Opportunities to know Him. Opportunities to see Him in action. Opportunities to have my heart broken by those things which break His heart.

• I turned 15 years old on a mission trip to Tijuana. I remember riding through the city in the back of a 15-passenger van, pressing my face up against the glass and crying as I saw "houses" made of scraps and garbage, children begging for food, homeless men washing our windshield and begging for money. 

• Four years ago, right after a presidential election gone bad, and after a country-wide outbreak of rioting and violence, I went with a group of missionaries to Kenya to help with an outreach to street children, whose empty, blood-shot eyes and tattered, torn clothes are burned into my memory. I was also honored to attend a support group for women living with AIDS and HIV, who sang and danced despite their great suffering.

• Over the last 2 1/2 years I've traveled to Haiti 5 times. Once right after an earthquake that killed 100's of 1,000's of people. Once during a hurricane and an outbreak of cholera. During every single trip I had the privilege of loving and being loved by some of the most beautiful children you could ever meet, one of whom impacted my life forever...Love Maidene.

• I've witnessed the Lord working through the lives of people right here in the United States, once hopeless and destitute as a result of drug addiction, homelessness, and cyclical poverty, now flourishing and continually being transformed by the love of Jesus shown to them by Christians who are talking the talk AND walking the walk.

• I've been privileged to hold the company of some of the wisest, kindest, most generous and Christ-like friends and teachers the world has ever known. (I can't prove this, but I'd hold these people up to anyone!) Many godly, wise men and women have taken the time to love me, invite me into their lives and show me Jesus.

For my age, I suppose I have experienced a lot of what life has to offer. I've touched, tasted, and seen enough of the world to last a lifetime: both beauty and suffering.

But nothing....

Not anything I've seen or experienced or even heard about....

Can compare to this. 

Samantha Love Knuth is the most important company I will have ever held.  Loving her will be the biggest responsibility and the greatest privilege the Lord has given me yet.

And I'm about to meet her for the first time! My DAUGHTER!!

Wow. And Praise the Lord! My heart is quite literally bursting with love and excitement. (And fear and a myriad of other emotions!)

So no, I really cannot put the enormity of this journey into words. This is a God-sized journey. A Jesus-inspired plan. Only HE could have written a story so intricate and miraculous. And so incredibly and beautifully good. Please pray that I will be able to completely surrender to HIM and allow HIM to finish was HE has started. 

Let the journey begin.

And stay tuned!

My friend Anna and I are on our way to Bulgaria tomorrow! (Or is it today? Its late!!) I'll be updating the blog throughout our week with Sam. I promise lots of pictures and first thoughts.

And if you would, please continue to lift Samantha, Anna, and me up in prayer. Pray for safe travel to Bulgaria. Pray that our hearts would be open to any opportunities to serve the Lord along the way. Pray for my first meeting with Sam. Pray that we will witness true change and improvement in the orphanage. Pray that my heart will allow me to enjoy Sam and love her well without thinking too much about our goodbye at the end of the week. Pray that God will give me grace and peace to handle difficulty when it comes. Pray for the safe arrival of all of our luggage (3 1/2 suitcases FULL of formula!!!).

Many thanks to all of you who have given so generously and prayed without ceasing to make this journey possible. 

Now I suppose I should attempt to get some sleep before I travel!

Lots of love to all of you. 

Sarah...Only Weeks Left To Find a Family

Little Sarah still needs a family, friends. And if she doesn't find one within the next few weeks, the Bulgarian government is going to take her file back and she will lose her chance. She will be locked away in an institution for life.

Sarah has grown up in the same facility as Samantha. She has literally never known love, in all of her 6 years on this earth. Please please please pray for Sarah. There is so much more to this life that what she knows. Pray she will get a chance to see that there is good in the world. And pray that the Bulgarian government will see Sarah, and all other adoptable children from Pleven, being snatched up by loving families, so they can begin to understand that these children have worth!

Our love for the children of Pleven is a beautiful picture of Jesus for all of Bulgaria to see. Let's raise the banner high today and show Jesus' love for Sarah.

Here is her precious little face one more time. Pray that her mom and dad find her TODAY!!!

Read more about Sarah here. If you are interested in adopting Sarah, please contact Reece's Rainbow.

Tired And Weak As We Are...An Urgent Need For a Family

Heeding Jesus' call to care for the orphan and the widow is not easy. And to be honest, it often hurts. It hurts knowing there are people all around the globe, dearly loved by God, who do without while we have more than we could ever need. Some days I feel so emotionally drained that tears fall without any particular reason. I'm sure you all can understand. In fact, I know that many of you have had your hearts completely broken by stories of children languishing in cribs, starving, and without love.

So why should we continue to subject ourselves to such heartache? Wouldn't it be easier to turn a blind eye? Wouldn't it be easier to go back to the way we were before we knew?

Believe me, there are times I when I don't know how to continue.  Samantha already occupies the majority of my thoughts, and I often feel like I don't have the emotional capacity to carry the burden of the many suffering children my eyes have been opened to. So, if you feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of children who need families, who are starving, who have been abused and neglected...I completely understand. I'm overwhelmed too.

BUT.

I want to encourage you today that your tender hearts and your compassion truly are making a difference. Your prayers. Your sacrificial giving. The way you've spread the plight of the orphan near and far...you are changing the world. Really and truly you are! And this could not be so if it were not for your broken heart.

So please don't give up! Please keep giving. Keep praying. Keep advocating.

Your work for the Lord may very well save a life. It may save this little girl's life.

Please please please spread the word about 16-year-old Harmony. Her time is quickly running out. If she is not adopted IMMEDIATELY, she will be transferred and will spend the rest of her days in a mental institution. No human child deserves a life sentence in an asylum- without human touch or proper nutrition, without education or any kind of stimulation at all, without love and without family.

God can rescue Harmony from the impossible depth of this despair. Of course He can, because He can do anything!! And He may choose to use us, tired and weak as we are...if we will only heed his call. So, let's press on. Let's get the word out. Let's unite under the name of Jesus and pray her home. Nothing is impossible with God.

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:9

Grab A Box Of Kleenex For This One

Adeye is famous in the adoption community. Her blog attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors with each post. She advocates for orphans as a way of life. She and her husband Anthony have adopted 4 orphaned little girls, one of whom came home from Ukraine at 5 years old, weighing 15 pounds.

You will NOT BELIEVE what Adeye and Anthony are up to now!! 

The tears keep coming today as I think about it. God is writing a magnificent story, and I can hardly believe that He is allowing me to be part of it. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

Now let's keep praying until EVERY captive from Pleven is RELEASED!! God is doing this, friends! He is good!!!


Praise the one who breaks the darkness
with a liberating light.
Praise the one who frees the prisoners,
turning blindness into sight.

Change. Is. COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our months of praying...

Their YEARS of waiting. In agony...

God is making sense of it all.

We KNOW He's been working on this since the very first cries went up. (Read Daniel 10). But NOW, prepare to see the fruit of our prayers, the fruit of HIS labor. The battle is raging on, and a victor has been declared.

JESUS CHRIST, risen from the dead, Savior of the world, defender of orphans... ALL GLORY BE TO YOU!!!!!!

Read the full story here.

And that's not all!!! One of our beloved Pleven families received a court date today in what seems to be record time!!! AND, little Carissa has a family. Sarah has a family seriously working toward committing to her. And GOD IS IN THE PROCESS OF WORKING A MIRACLE FOR SAM!!

Please don't stop praying!!! We are weak, but HE is strong and able! Pray that Sam can come home SOON!!!!!! And continue to pray for her protection and wellbeing in the meantime.

Also, there continues to be MANY meaningful ways for us to care for the orphans of Pleven. Please visit this blog to learn how you can help to provide the care of 10 nurses for 6 months at the Pleven orphanage. Or read this post to see how you can still contribute toward diapers and nutrition. Or, send me an email @ grayc77@gmail.com if you would like to contribute toward buying formula or diapers to be given while I'm in Bulgaria this month.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers!!!!!!!

Love to all of you.

How About A Second Look

Hey y'all, if you would, please keep praying for the two sweet little girls from Pleven who are waiting for families. There have been very few inquiries about them, especially little Sarah. Please pray that the LORD will raise up families for them. HE can do this! And maybe He'll use us to help! Would you mind spreading the word that these little girls need rescued?

Here they are again:

This is Sarah. She is 5 years old, has Congenital Cataracts (blind), Cerebral Palsy, and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Because she was raised in the orphanage in Pleven, she is quite small for her age, likely due to malnourishment and neglect. But look at that smile! This looks like a little girl with hope! Sarah deserves a mommy and daddy to love her!

This is Carissa. She is 4 years old. Don't you love this new picture of her? Carissa is also small for her age because of neglect and malnourishment. She is delayed in all aspects of her development, although she is now walking and beginning to pronounce sounds. She is a happy child with a good disposition. Carissa deserves a mommy and daddy to love her!

But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans. Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them. Psalm 10: 14, 17-18