Philip, Sara, Emily, and Titus Matheny
www.mathenymom.blogspot.com
Although I haven’t seen them in person for about eight years now, this family has a very special place in my heart. The seed for adoption was first planted in my heart by Philip and Sara.
We went to the same college as Philip and Sara, and although we were never the best of friends, we had many common friends and always knew each other. I had a great deal of respect for them back then just because of what I knew about them from others.
Then Sara and I were paired together to do a project in a Bible class (we went to a small Christian college). We were told to research and present a ministry that we were passionate about and would like to be involved in in the future. Sara suggested that we do our presentation on foster care. She and Philip had spent the previous summer living and working with a family who cared for many foster children, and they were interested in doing the same someday down the road when they were married. It wasn’t something that I had ever really considered before, but I wanted to be agreeable so I said OK.
As I researched foster care , studied what the scriptures said about caring for the fatherless, and interviewed a few people who had served as foster parents the idea of caring for children who needed parents stuck with me. Over time I became convinced that Daniel and I would probably become foster parents someday when our children were older. Gradually that dream changed and God led us in the direction of adoption.
Anyway, this blog post isn’t supposed to be about me. My point is, that I am so very excited and honored to be partnering with the Matheny family this month. They are a precious, godly family, and they are adopting from the West African country of Burkina Faso.
Here’s what they have to say about their family:
We are Philip and Sara Matheny. God planted the seed of adoption in our lives through a foster-adopt family during the summer of 2001. When we married the following year, we knew that adoption would be a part of our family. A couple of times we tried to pursue it and each time He said, “Wait.” After we were blessed with the births of Emily and Titus, we began to believe adoption as something we do “someday” in the distant future.
In 2009, we began to realize that God was planning to bring our next child into our home through adoption. We chose to pursue adoption from Burkina Faso because our extended family is already in love with the country. Though we have not yet been there ourselves, twelve members of the Matheny family have lived in or traveled to Burkina. Our family and friends join us in excitement for bringing Little Matheny home! Emily started a change jar last year and collects all the money she finds (and even gifts she is given) to help bring her little brother home. Titus prays daily that his little brother will come home soon.
Throughout the adoption process, God has been guiding us to “Listen. Trust. Obey.” He taught us to live simply and has provided abundantly. He has given us a passion for Himself and for families and we are thankful for the opportunities He gives us to love others as He has loved us. You can follow our journey as we bring our son home from Burkina Faso at
www.mathenymom.blogspot.com
And by the way, their awesome photos were taken by
Sara Darling, another mom in the process of adopting from Ethiopia!
1 comment:
Oh Sarah, tears on my face! Isn't our God good? It is such a gift to be connected with you all these years later and know that the dream planted then is coming to fruition in both of our lives! I plan to tell this story on my blog, too. :) Thank you so much for helping us along this journey.
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