We are delighted to announce to you that we are about to have a baby!!
We are 8 months pregnant!! :))
Deep in the South Pacific, in the beautiful islands of the Marshall Islands, there is a baby who will be born in a month. This baby is soon going to be our new son or daughter!!
Wow! The Lord has moved quickly!! It was just about a month ago that Richard and group of staff led by Renee Loux of the Orphan justice Center, and her mother, Flo, (a pominent missionary in the Marshall Islands), traveled on a ministry trip to Northwest Arkansas to serve the pastors of a large group of people from the Marshall Islands. These pastors have transplanted here in the states. this meeting was a first of its kind and it was quite an honor to be invited.
There leaders had been praying for several years for God to lead people to them; people who would help show them God's keys to bring answers to hardships in their community. During the meeting, after the Marshallese worship and prayer time, pastors shared their hearts. the OJC team was very aware that God was opening a door to have a deep impact in the future within this precious community. Richard and I felt as though this trip was something the Lord was calling us to be a part of, through bringing God's heart and the Good News of His gospel to the nations. We are so excited about partnering with His perfect heart to restore people who are so precious to Him.
Also during this trip, God pressed on several hearts within the OJC team, that He was wanting to do something with children, and restoration.
God used Isaiah 58:6-7 to confirm to us what was on His heart for these precious ones.
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
Little did we know what part He would immediately be inviting us into!!
During the time of this ministry trip, at the beginning of 2013, our hearts were stirring with a favorite theme on God's heart... ADOPTION. The Lord was telling us that it was time again!
Through prayer, and in discussion with one another around the Tucker table, the Lord continued speaking. Our children said things like, "It's time to share my room with a baby!!" They even went back and forth about whose room the baby would be in.
YES.
It is time to walk along side our "Daddy Shepherd" once more...to be awed and stretched, overjoyed and pressed, to yet again see Him knit a new life into our family through the miracle of adoption. The ministry of adoption has been a highlight of our ministry as a couple and as a family.
This journey has pulled us into an utterly dependent and lovesick relationship with God. It has also helped us to fall in love with other cultures, and to know that because of this journey, Christ will receive more inheritance around His throne. We will also be sharing in Christ's suffering and its impact on the voiceless and vulnerable ones. WE want to be a part of His solution for the brokenhearted, to know that captives will be set free under our watch.
Its hard to put into words what it's like to be able to hold and kiss on children who otherwise would have been overlooked, in danger and in great need of rescue. What and honor it is to be a part of seeing children coming to salvation and seeing them literally dance in praise before God!
SO, HERE ARE THE DETAILS!
Just last week, we received a phone call from Renee' Loux with urgent information regarding a Marshallese baby in deperate need. This mother is related to one of Renee's Marshallese daughters, and is also the sister of another woman who is pregnant and adopting her son to Renee'. The baby we are going to be adopting is 1 month from being born. The mother is a young woman shoe will be arriving in the U.S. soon, to have her baby. We were asked if we would adopt the baby and we excitedly said, "YES!"
The next five weeks will be spent ministering to the needs of this young mother as she prepares to give birth. We will be responsible for her daily care as well as the legal and medical needs of the baby. We greatly look forward to getting to know and show love to the birth mother of our new child. Family is a very strong value in the Marshallese heritage as well as making bonds with his or her family. Please pray with us as we trust Jesus to bring hope to this young woman, the hope that can only come from God.
We would love to invite you to pray with us and for us! We would appreciate your prayers for the baby's health, for safe travels, for a healthy birth, and for a smooth transition for the Tucker family as we bring in another son or daughter.
We are estimating that the total cost of this adoption will be around $ 25,000. This will include the home study, various travel fees (for example passport, plane tickets, legal costs for the mother and the child, care for the mother prior to and just after the delivery, and the delivery itself.)
We are confident that God will be faithful to complete all the good work He's begun and has called us to. We have lived this reality as missionaries, it's incredible!
Due to the urgent timing of this adoption story, we will need to raise the funds for this baby's adoption within weeks. There are several thousand dollars that will need to be raised within the next week.
We know that many of you, our fiends, have hearts for the vulnerable. We ask for your prayers for this little one. We ask also that you seek the Lord as to what part you might play in this story of rescue.
To give a donation online please use this link,
http://tinyurl.com/clkx6jp
All checks may be written to Orphan Justice Center, with a note stating that your gift is to going towards our adoption. For example, 'Tucker Adoption", in the memo line of the check. Checks may be mailed to the following address:
Orphan Justice Center
P.O. Box 877
Grandview, MO 64030
Thank you for walking with us in the glory of adoption!
Love from,
Richard, Gillian, and all the Tuckers!
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