Before MaeLee and I ever met, the Lord placed a burden in both of our hearts for the ministry of adoption. It’s such a clear picture of the Gospel. In Ephesians 1:3-6 Paul talks about the adoption we have received from God. We were spiritual orphans, unable to fend for ourselves, and God intervened by doing what we could not do when He took away our sin. When we adopt, we are able to show others the love God has shown us by sending His Son Jesus. For whatever reason, we both sensed that God was calling us to adopt in our future.
It didn’t take long when we began courting to get around to the question of children, and more specifically, adoption. One of the ways we were confident God was leading us towards marrying one another was because of this common bond. All that to say, adoption has been on our radar for a long time. We have watched and supported friends go through the adoption process and have been waiting for the right time to embark on that journey ourselves. Through many conversations and prayers we are confident that this is our time to start the process of adopting. We are adopting through Faithful Adoption Consultants (FAC). We have heard great testimonies from those who have used their services. You can see their website here.
What Brought You Together?
We met in college while working a church youth event at Timothy’s home church in the Spring of 2010. In December of 2010 MaeLee took a mission trip to East Asia and asked Timothy to be a prayer partner for her. Shortly after she returned from her trip, we started a courtship. During this time we intentionally got to know each other and in those conversations we discovered each other’s interest in adopting some day. We started dating in April of 2011 and the rest is history!
In July of 2011 Timothy proposed to MaeLee next to a lake where they had one of their first dates. We were on our way to have dinner with our families where they would meet each other for the first time. We had a little girl MaeLee used to babysit with us so we stopped at the lake for her to “play on the playground.” After a walk near the lake, Timothy asked MaeLee to have a seat at a picnic table. This is when he read Proverbs 31 to her, got down on one knee, and asked her to be his wife. We were able to celebrate with our families around the dinner table that evening!
We were engaged for five and a half months before getting married in December of 2011. As is the case with any wedding, there were stressful times during the planning process. However, our wedding day came together and was great! We loved being surrounded by our family and friends who helped us celebrate that special day. They blew bubbles as we ran to a red mustang to drive off to our honeymoon at the beach.
Why Adopt Now?
In our entire marriage our thinking has been about “when” we will adopt, not “if” we will adopt. When our biological children were three and one and a half we began to thinking about adding another child to our family and through prayer and conversations with one another we decided it was time for us to start the adoption process. It was December of 2017 that we announced that we were adopting and started fundraising.
When we adopt, we are able to show others the love God has shown us by sending His Son Jesus. For whatever reason, we both sensed that God was calling us to adopt in our future.
Timothy
Timothy is caring, loving, and patient with all people, but especially our children. He is always willing to lend a helping hand to others. He is a great planner and loves being able to find solutions to any problems or situations that arise. In his job/role as a pastor, Timothy has learned how to help others in every type of situation there is, how to have compassion for others from all walks of life, and how to lead people well. He leads our family with wisdom, love, and grace. He is the best man I have ever known!
Timothy is great with kids of all ages and I think that is due to having a little sister that is twelve years younger than him and working with children and youth in church. Having those experiences in his life has help make him into the best Daddy for our children they could possibly have! He is so patient, merciful, and affectionate with our kids and I know he will remain the same and become even better with more children in our family!
MaeLee
MaeLee is a loving, funny, patient, kind, and compassionate woman. She grew up in a Christian home and came to a saving relationship with Jesus early in life. She has lived that faith out in every aspect of her life. She’s always been active in every church she has been a part of and served those churches well. Along with that, MaeLee has traveled the world on several mission trips. Recently, MaeLee started her own from home business and it is growing at a fast pace. She is a great leader to the team of people she is over.
MaeLee is also the best mom. She’s loved children her whole life and has had a ton of experience with them. She baby-sat throughout high school and college. Since having children of her own, MaeLee has proven to be a compassionate, loving, caring mother who puts her children’s needs in front of her own. Adoption has always been a desire of hers and I’m excited to see her get to live out her dream of adding to our family through adoption.
May
21
We’re MATCHED!!!!
Ahhhhhh!!!! 💙 H U G E N E W S 💙
We are officially matched with a 9 month old baby boy!!! We are absolutely thrilled and over the moon excited!
As we have stepped out on faith and in obedience to the Lord throughout this process, we are trusting Him to make a way for us financially. We are in need of $30,000 so we are asking everyone to please pick a number between 1 to 200 on our poster boards and give at least that much to our adoption!
We are shouting from the rooftops that we are ACTIVE!! We are so so excited to finally be at this stage of our adoption journey and we are closer than ever before to bringing our baby home to join us! We are more than ready to become a party of 5!
How you can pray for us?
-Please pray that as we hear back from grants in the coming weeks that we are awarded them or pray for the Lord to provide in another way for us.
-Please pray that the fundraisers we are doing are successful and well supported. Every little bit helps us!
We love each of you so much and are eternally grateful for your thoughtful and generous gifts to our adoption! Know that you are making a gospel impact because adoption is a part of God’s plan.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Jan
16
Final Paperwork Sent!
We did it! 🎉🎉🎉
We sent off all of our paperwork to FAC this morning, which is a BIG step in our adoption journey! One step closer to bringing home Baby Mathis #3! 🙌🏼💙
The next step in our adoption process is going A C T I V E! This is the point in this process that I’m having to mentally prepare for the most.
Why? Because I’m a planner. I like routines and systems. I like to know what’s coming. And it’s this part from here on out that I have no idea what’s going to happen and what will go down. I’m having to calm myself and my fears + expectations.
From what I’ve heard from other adoptive mommas and families…this will be the hardest part of our journey.
BUT the Lord has gone before us and prepared the way. He knows every single detail of it all already. So, I’m telling myself to let go of the reigns some, enjoy the ride more, and just keep praying + hoping + trusting Him.
God is faithful. God is sovereign. God is good.
He will provide the funds. He will lead us every step of the way.
We still have a great deal of fundraising to do to be matched. If you feel led to give to our adoption, then you can give here at this site.
We covet your prayers, support, and encouragement.
