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 Jim & Gina Wilson (adopted Natalie from Philippines, and now in process for 2nd miraculous adoption)
Lifesong for Orphans committed a $3,000 matching grant. This proved to be a catalyst for others to give, as the folks within their church gave an additional $3,920 toward this adoption as a result of the matching grant for Natalie (first adoption).
Excerpt from Wilson’s adoption testimony in 2003 (when applying to LS for adoption grant):
“We first started talking about adoption a few years ago…and knew we probably wouldn’t have any more biological children when we knew there were so many orphans in our world. We were also blessed by Steven Curtis Chapman’s testimony of their adoption. We were drawn to the Philippines as we sponsor a Filipino boy through Compassion International for the last 4 years…
We believe this is the first of many adoptions for us…we believe that God will provide the finances needed for this adoption. This is giving us an opportunity to build our faith and trust God for a miracle!...”
Excerpt from Wilson’s adoption testimony & update for a 2nd adoption in 2007:
“Thank you Lifesong for Orphans! It has been two years since we brought home our daughter Natalie from the Philippines. We could not do it without the $3,000 Adoption Matching Grant we received from LifeSong. Not only did we feel blessed by Lifesong but also the many, many financial blessings we received from our friends and family who were glad to support our adoption. We would not have felt comfortable requesting assistance from the people around us without your encouragement and accompanying letter. Everyone was very excited to have their donation doubled (through the matching grant) and felt like they were also a part of making this incredible miracle happen. Your prayers and encouraging phone calls were also very helpful.
Natalie has been a blessing to our family in so many ways. Even after only a few months we could not have imagined life without her. She is a beautiful, smart and funny child with so much personality! She has bonded well with all of us and fits right into our family. Our adoption experience has been such a witness to others of God’s unconditional love for us since He has adopted all of us into His family. Our adoption has also caused a lot of people around us to consider adoption and a few of them have started on the adoption journey God has for them.
Our newest miracle from God was finding out recently that Natalie has a full biological younger brother, Mark Timothy who is at the same orphanage Natalie is from. Apparently, the birth mom gave him up at the Children Shelter of Cebu requesting that the same family in the U.S. who adopted Natalie would adopt Mark as well so they could grow up together. The orphanage made the request to the government who then contacted our agency. We received the surprising phone call on February 13th, Natalie’s 3rd birthday. We immediately felt this was God’s gift for Natalie on her birthday that she had a brother who looked just like her! We prayed to God that if He desired for us to adopt Mark that he would have to provide ALL of the money since we were still recovering from paying for Natalie’s adoption. Five weeks later, we received a phone call from someone [from our church] we hardly knew, who was aware of our situation. They offered to pay for the whole adoption! Since then, we have also been blessed by other generous people with the majority of the money needed to take our three children with us to meet our newest addition to our family, Natalie’s little brother Mark. We will be traveling to the Philippines to adopt Mark and bring him home sometime this fall.
We now are twice as grateful to Lifesong because if it wasn’t for your ministry there would be two more orphans today waiting for a forever family in an orphanage in the Philippines!"
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