Dear Church Family,

As most of you know, we are adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia! Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and encouragement through this long process. God has shown himself in amazing ways since we first applied back in October and we’ve learned so much through it already. Our dossier (fancy name for gobs of paperwork detailing EVERY area of your life) was finished and sent off to Ethiopia in March. At this point, we just wait, wait some more, and then wait a little longer for that wonderful call telling us who our little boy will be! We expect to have our referral sometime in August or September. Once that happens, we’ll have a court date and travel to Ethiopia to pick him up and bring him home.

Everyone knows that the cost of international adoption is expensive. We jumped into this process with a mixture of fear and excitement, asking God to increase our faith as we trusted in Him to provide. We’ve clung to the fact that God is more passionate about the plight of orphans than we ever could be! We’re so grateful to God for the way he’s provided time and time again, always bringing in the money at just the right time when a bill was due. He’s used granting agencies, piano accompanying opportunities, and most of all, his generous people. Of the $25,000 that we need to cover the expenses, we only have $9,000 to go. The Lord is so good.

On Friday, May 30th, at 7:00 p.m., there’s going to be a benefit concert here at the church. The primary purpose of this event is to bring glory to God and raise awareness of adoption. If you’re interested in donating to help with the final costs of bringing our little one home, there will be some boxes in the back for you to do so. It will be a great night of music, worship and adoption stories, followed by some fellowship over dessert. We’ll have some wonderful musicians performing, including Joel Brovont, Jason and Jodi Bradshaw, Tyler and Whitney Daugherty, Micah Chibana, and Jim Lehe. Whether you donate or not, we’d love for you to come share in what God is doing around the globe through adoption.

Thanks again for all your prayers. We look forward to the day we can bring this child home and be part of such a loving church family. If you’d like any more information or simply want to read more about our adoption journey, check out our blog.

Love, Ben and Janet Whipple

Psalm 68:4-6a
Sing to God, sing praise to his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds – his name is the LORD
– and rejoice before him.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families

*Note from Kossuth: This is not an official KSBC project and thus does not qualify as a deductible gift for tax purposes. Gifts should go directly to Ben and Janet.