Our Journey to Toby Begins!

Within the last week, the life of the Meyer family has gone in a direction we did not anticipate.  In January we moved to Las Vegas and became surprisingly and happily settled here, a place we never thought we'd ever visit, let alone live!  We have been blessed by many good friendships already and love our new church family.  Jake and Sarah arrived for the summer and we've been enjoying time with them, showing them the beauty of the desert!  We have reached a place of comfort and contentment and peace, which is welcomed after so much uncertainty in the past year or so!         

 

But God does not want us to stay comfortable and content.  He likes to shake us up so that we can learn how to more fully depend on Him.  And He shook things up for us this weekend!  We took a mini-vacation to Utah for two days as a family to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary!  It was beautiful!  The second night was the first time I had internet access, so I checked email.  There was an email from my mom with the subject "Toby".  I did not want to click on that email.  I knew somehow it would be a story to break my heart, as my Mom and sister both follow several adoption stories and news of orphans in Eastern Europe with their connection to Reece's Rainbow.  I did not want our sweet little vacation and family time to be overshadowed by sadness.  I almost didn't click.

        

But then I did.  I read the blog post and wept.  (Here is the original post: http://www.covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2015/07/about-lost-boy.html   Please, please read it to learn more about Toby!)  

 

This is the first picture we saw:

        

I showed it to Josh.  He looked up after reading the post and said, "Let's adopt him."  Wow!  We spent the weekend praying and discussing it with our five kids.  It was so obviously confirmed to us that "Toby" is meant to be in our family.  He is in an orphanage for mentally and physically handicapped children simply because he has Celiac disease.  His body cannot tolerate gluten.  Two of our own boys have shown such a sensitivity to gluten, that I have been baking/cooking gluten free for over four years now!  He is ten and will soon be moved to a less-than-ideal institution.  He needs a family...a family that knows about active, little boys who need to get lots of energy out! 

 

After making the initial inquiry through Reece's Rainbow and finding out another interested family chose not to commit to him, our family was given the go-ahead to pursue the adoption of Toby! 

 

Needless to say, this has been a whirlwind already - and it is just the beginning.  The costs involved in international adoption are enormous...and rather daunting to us, as Josh is only making about half salary while waiting for his security clearance to be finalized.  But we know that dollar amounts are no obstacle to our Lord, who loves the orphan and commands us to care for them.  We know that every dollar that is raised will be part of His plan for our family and will come at just the moment we need it. 

 

We have created a Facebook account for this journey:  Meyer Adoption  https://www.facebook.com/meyer.adoption

 

We also have a YouCaring page to begin raising funds.  There are several daunting fees right up front for all the paperwork involved. 

https://www.youcaring.com/josh-and-kameron-meyer-386654

           

Adoptions from the Ukraine typically move very quickly; the average time is 7 months from start to finish!  We have a lot of work to do!  We cherish your prayers for Toby and our family most of all.  Please pray that God will protect Toby's heart and encourage him as he gets ready to move to the new facility in August.  Pray that he will not lose hope!  Pray that all the pieces will fall into place according to God's perfect plan! 

 

That wonderful adoptive mom who wrote the post about Toby included the verse Matthew 13:44:

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field,

which a man found and covered up. 

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

 

We know that Toby is the "hidden treasure" God has for us.  The Lord has actually used his Celiac disease to bring him to his forever family!  Even gluten sensitivities can be used in the kingdom of heaven!!! 

 

We are ready to "sell all we have" in pursuit of that wonderful treasure waiting for us.  To God be the Glory!

 

Thank you so much!  We look forward to seeing how the Lord works in the midst of this and we trust Him completely! 

 

With grateful hearts,

 

Josh, Kameron and the rest of the Meyer family