The Big Reveal, And A Big Thank You!

If you missed the beginning of the story, start here.

Emily visited Matt and Lisa on Sunday night to let them in on the big secret.  She could barely contain herself.  I wanted so badly to be there, but I had to settle for a sketchy Skype connection.  At least I got to watch as Matt and Lisa, with Koral beside them, got the best surprise so far this year.  Here's what I got to see from my room in Afghanistan...

Matt and Lisa reading the news for the first time.

The surprise hits them.

Lisa pretending she's not crying.

Matt ecstatic.

Koral can't wait to meet her baby brother!

It was just as exciting as Emily and I hoped it would be.  We have all of you to thank for that.  If you want to read the story from Lisa's point of view, check out her blog post about the night.

One other way you can support their adoption journey is to buy one of these necklaces that Lisa is selling as a fundraiser.  She only has a few left, and then the entire adoption will pretty much be fully funded, so hurry!!!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for this project and especially to those who sacrificed financially to make it happen.  In her own words, here's what Lisa thought about the whole thing...

I am utterly and completely at a loss for words. What can one say when they have been given such a gift? Because sitting here, right now, a mere Thank You seems foolish. I am still shaking and I have had the chills for the past hour and don't think they will be going away ANY. TIME. SOON. 

I am blown away, and I mean BLOWN AWAY in the biggest way I have EVER been blown away by the generosity of people. Some who know us and call us friends and GET THIS...  SOME I HAVE NEVER EVEN MET.... whaaaattttttt?? How is this possible. I feel like I am on some kind of crazy version of 'Extreme Home Makeover' and I just keep saying out loud... 

"This kind of stuff DOES NOT happen to normal people like us!"  

I can not express in words what this means to us, our family and our sweet baby boy. He will know what EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU have done for us. You are all a part of His story now.  

I thought his story was great before....but NOW...its just un~real!!  I only hope that this can spark a fire in the hearts of people. To love and to help others. I hope that the whole world will start to think of the orphan as so much more than a sad picture flashed on the TV every once in a while. We are fighting for life. We are fighting for souls. And if we aren't here to do great, crazy, amazing, BOLD things for God, then what the heck are we here for? 

Thank you.  

Thank you. 

Thank you. 

- Lisa Maxfield, with Matt & Koral

Dear Matt & Lisa,

When you invited Emily and I to be a part of your adoption story, we didn't realize what an exciting adventure it would be, full of ups and down, and moments of disappointment and long periods of waiting and wondering.  Now we know you have a son.  And we know he's joined you in the waiting game.  None of us can be sure how long you'll have to wait just to meet him, but we know it's going to happen.

There are still roadblocks of course, lots of paperwork and red tape to push through, meetings, travel, and any number of things that could make this whole process more difficult, most of which we can't control.  One of those roadblocks, a very big one for most people, is money.  It's simply daunting, even a little bit discouraging, to think about what it's going to cost to bring an orphan from Ethiopia into a family that loves him.  But with God's help, that's actually a roadblock we can control, or at least make a little bit smaller, a little easier for you to get around.  We decided about month ago that we were going to make it as small as we possibly could.  Not only that, we wanted as many people as possible to share in the joy that this journey has already brought to us.

So, we basically invited everyone we could think of to send us money, which we would then match, dollar for dollar, to give to you.  About 30 different families have responded over the past four weeks, and we are excited to tell you that we have received $3,500 for the sole purpose of bringing your son home.  That means Emily and I, on behalf of all the people who got involved (and yes we have all their names for you), are overjoyed to be able to present you a total of $7,000 to help fund the journey for which you both have selflessly volunteered.  It's not everything.  But we all hope it will take a big enough bite out of the total to make the rest just a little bit easier.

We all love you.  And, get this, some of these people don't even know you!  Can you believe that?  Matt and Lisa, thank you again for allowing us to be a part of your story.  God bless you guys for what you're doing.  And God bless your son who is waiting to meet you.

- Jeff and Emily and lots of people who love you...