Three Days

Three days. 3 days.

• Joseph interpreted his fellow prisoners' dreams to mean in 3 days one would die and one would be brought to Pharaoh to have his position restored. (Gen. 40)
• Joseph put his brothers in jail for 3 days before releasing them to go collect their younger brother (Gen. 42)
• Moses stretched his hand toward the sky and total and complete darkness came over Egypt for 3 days. (Ex. 10)
• After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites traveled in the desert for 3 days before finding any water. (Ex. 15)
• The Israelites often traveled for 3 days in order to find a place for them to rest. (Num. 10, 33)
• Joshua told the Israelites to gather their belongings because they would cross over to Jordan in 3 days. (Josh. 1)
• A woman told Joshua and his men to hide in the hills for 3 days before coming back to take the land. (Josh. 2)
• Their were donkeys lost for 3 days and then found. (1 Sam. 9)
• It took 3 days to collect all the plunder from a raid. (2 Chron. 20)
• The men of Judah and Benjamin had 3 days to gather themselves. (Ezra 10)
• The people fasted for 3 days with Esther when she asked them to. (Esther 4)
• Jonah was in the belly of a huge fish for 3 days and 3 nights. (Jonah 1)
• It took Jonah 3 days to go through the whole city of Nineveh. (Jonah 3)
• Jesus as a young boy was found at the temple after being lost to his parents for 3 days. (Lk. 2)
  
• Jesus told the disciples to feed the people because they had been with them 3 days without any food (Mt. 15, Mk. 8)
• Jesus tells the people He will spend 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. (Mt. 12)
  
• Jesus predicts that after He is killed and put in the tomb, He will raise from the dead in 3 days. (Mk. 8, 9)
• Saul was blind for 3 days after encountering the Lord on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9)

Three days. These are just some of the examples I found in the Bible that show how important and significant 3 days can be. 3 days are significant to our family too this week. We are just 3 days out from our Lifesong fundraising goal date. We have been amazed at the outpouring of support we have received. "Thank you" doesn't even begin to describe our real feelings when we check in each week with Lifesong and learn our totals have gone up again. It's probably more on the lines of "YYYYEEEEAAAHHHH GOD!!!!!!!! No way! This is so awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't believe it--seriously, I can't believe it! You are so good to us, God. So, so good. YES!!!!" all the while jumping up and down, doing a happy dance, having a huge smile from ear to ear and perhaps (from Angie) tears of joy running down my face. It is such a huge confirmation to us that we are indeed following the Lord's plan for our family and that there are others out there who love us, love Nora, and love doing what God has commanded us all to do in James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." It also reinforces the TRUTH that God will supply our need when we wholeheartedly surrender to His will.

With 3 days left until our goal date, will you please still consider joining our support team? We are just under 1/2 of the way there, friends, and still need your financial support. Some have questioned why we aren't paying for this adoption all on our own or why we are asking others to support us financially with a decision we clearly have made for ourselves. Questions like, "Shouldn't we be taking care of the needs of our own family and backing up our own decisions without asking for help from others?" or "Isn't this irresponsible to be saying yes to adoption and then openly saying we don't necessarily have enough funds to make it happen?" are valid questions to have come to the surface. Here are our answers to questions like these, for what it is worth...

• Adopting wasn't our idea....it was God's. That may sound like a "Sunday school answer" to some of you, but it is as true as it gets to us. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is who is behind this adoption--not us. Because it is God's idea, it is something we feel He will use His kingdom to bring to pass and His kingdom is not solely comprised of Micah and Angie Thieszen...thankfully! : )
  
• We ARE supporting our own adoption financially as much as we can. We are not sitting around using other peoples' money while living poshly off of our own. Out of respect to our own privacy we will not be sharing how all we are making our own sacrifices, but please trust we are indeed a vital part of this process financially and would never want it any other way.
  
• We believe God's Word to be true and hold to the James 1:27 reference that everyone is being asked to look after the orphans. For some, that verse fleshes out in actually going through the process of adoption and caring for an orphan in a forever family situation. For others, that is not even on their radar, so being able to go on a mission trip to care for them for a few weeks or so is a better answer. For still others, maybe that seems a bit too much so they are sponsoring a child or helping financially to pay for an orphan to receive better care. The connection for us is that we have a situation where you would be able to do your part in looking after the orphan by helping us financially bring Nora home. It's an investment you will get to actually see the benefits of--as we bring Nora here and she grows up in our family, you will be able to witness firsthand the blessings of answering God's Word.
  
• As much as we personally cherish the feelings of love and support by having all of your contributions, we truly hope they are not being given solely on the basis of a connection to US. Our deeper heart's desire is you would be giving them to honor, respect, love, and support Nora herself. Nora needs you to care for her. Nora needs your prayers. Nora needs your financial support. Do you see this empty picture frame? I've had this frame ready for a picture of our sweet little Nora for a while now and yet it has remained empty. It is HARD to look at this empty picture frame because it leaves me feeling restless in this process, yet it is also good to see it empty because I KNOW there is a little girl who is going to fill it--and fill our lives--with so much and I HAVE to continue doing everything I know how to make sure that picture frame is filled soon! Yes, we know all too well, it's hard to not have that little brown face visible yet to know exactly who you are helping. It's hard to connect to this little girl when you don't even know she really exists. It's hard for us too, but we assure you she is out there somewhere in Haiti where she has a 50% chance at survival right now and we beg you to be thinking of HER and not us when you are giving of your finances. She needs YOUR help just as much as she needs our help! We have committed to giving it to her for the rest of her life and we pray you will be joining in that with us. You see, this is NOT about us--Micah, Angie, Lily, Tobias, and Quinn Thieszen--this is about Nora Thieszen. Make your donations for HER and we will undoubtedly feel the love and support as well--there is nothing better than feeling like someone else loves and supports your kids alongside you!

So, three days, friends. 3 days. If God can die, take victory over evil, and raise from the dead in just 3 days, I have no reason to doubt He can rally the troops and bring in a HUGE amount of financial support for our adoption in 3 days too. Would you be willing to not only give financial support to us, but also encourage others to do so as well by linking this post to your own blog page, facebook page, email account, twitter account, text message or whatever social medial outlet you use? I've often wondered what does it take for a message to go "viral"...I'm thinking the best answer to that question is God. What can't God do in 3 days???

To financially give follow the instructions below:

Option #1: Send your check in the enclosed, stamped envelope.

• Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. To direct your donations to our adoption expenses, write "preference Thieszen #2263 adoption" in the memo section of your check.

• Send your check to: Lifesong for Orphans, Attn. “preference Thieszen #2263 adoption”, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford Street, Gridley, IL 61744

• *Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.

Option #2: Donate online through Lifesong's PayPal account.

• To donate online, go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html. Scroll down until you see “By Credit Card (PayPal.com)” and click on the "Donate" button. Type in "preference Thieszen #2263 adoption" in the Purpose line.
  

• Where 100% of your donation from a check goes to us, if you use PayPal, you will be charged a 1.9-2.9% service fee. The amount actually received by Lifesong for Orphans for our adoption will be decreased by that amount.

Thank you, friends, for all you are doing for Nora...and all of us. We are blessed indeed.