I can't even describe how excited I am to FINALLY be sharing this!!!!
We have submitted the paperwork to start a non-profit called NO LONGER ORPHANS!
After we came home from Ethiopia I was in this funk....it almost felt like postpartum depression! I couldn't put my finger on it. Matt was worried. I was frustrated with myself! How could I be feeling so ick...Ellie was home! She was healthy! She was adjusting better & faster than we ever could have imagined.
It finally hit me. I didn't know how to process everything I'd seen. All the babies with arms upraised wanting to just be noticed. Children swarming around you....so excited for a balloon or a sticker. All these children. Why Ellie? Why would God chose HER? What about all the others? It was so unfair!!!
Meanwhile a day didn't go by that someone didn't say "I would so adopt, but it's just too expensive." It was all I could do to not shake them and say "SO WHAT!?!?" It's just money! We're talking about giving someone a LIFE. This happened over and over. With me biting my tongue and trying to tell them that God would provide.
So rewind 10 years. I was sitting in my living room, trying to tell God that what I was doing with my life couldn't POSSIBLY be right. I had all this education, leadership potential, bible knowledge....and I was a stay at home mom of 2 little boys with a seemingly silly little jewelry business to make ends meet. As clear as a bell God said to me, "Jill, you're not ready to hear all the plans I have for you. Just keep doing what you're doing." I left that meeting a new person. I had a purpose! I just wasn't ready to hear it yet.
I jumped full force into Premier Designs. More babies came, more moves...yet God blessed my seemingly silly jewelry business. Our team grew and grew. 2 years ago Premier became OUR business. Then, on a purely commissioned based income, during a recession, God asked us to adopt Ellie. I've never been good at telling God no - so off we went. Of course God provided and we were able to pay cash for all of it.
Now here we are. 147 million minus one. Ellie is home. Yet she left so many behind. Where do we go? How do we help? There has to be more we can do!!!!
Thus the birth of NO LONGER ORPHANS.
We're going to choose 1 family to sponsor (you'll be able to read about them SOON!) They will be our focus until all the funds have been raised to bring their child home. We'll connect anyone that would like to help provide pray support and/or financial support to their blog. You'll have the joy of being a direct part of helping a child come home!
My business has always been about keeping it personal. I want NO LONGER ORPHANS to be that way too! You'll be able to see the impact of your support....directly...through pictures! videos! stories! I can't wait!!!!
God is moving. Every day He gives me confirmation that this is His will. Just last night I innocently asked a dear friend if they were done having kids. She said "well, I'm almost 40, I just don't think it's going to happen" (she has 2 adorable little girls). I said "why don't you adopt." "Oh we would in a heart beat" was her response. "There's just no way we could afford it." She started sobbing when I told her what we're going to do....sobbing....they'd looked for organizations that would help them with funding...and hadn't been able to find anything. They thought that door was closed!
The verse we chose for Ellie is Isaiah 45:2-3-
I [God] will go before you and level mountains, I will break down gates of bronze & cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I AM THE LORD.That is the verse we've chosen for NO LONGER ORPHANS. God is working!!!! Gates of bronze, bars of iron, seemingly closed doors, finances, uncertainty - they're nothing to Him. He is Jehovah-Jireh, our provider! I can't WAIT to see what He's going to do!!!
WHAT a difference a family makes!
