Applying for grants

I started in the summer going online and searching grants. Any type of International/Adoption grants I could find. I must have been on line for hours and hours searching. We had to have our homestudy complete before we could apply for any grants. The first grant we applied for was Shaohannah's Hope. This is Steven Curist Chapmans Grant. Our social worker Linda said we had a good chance at getting this grant. So filled out the many page application, sent a copy of our last 2 years of tax forms, homestudy and statement of faith and sent it in. This was probably in Aug.- Sept. of 2008. Unbelievable the amount of paperwork and questions we need to fill out. I just prayed everyday that God would continue to open doors to help fund this adoption. In the mean time I continued to search the web and found some more grants to apply for. From today- we have applied for 9 different grants.
Many late nights filling out all the information needed for each grant. We received work from one grant that we did not get it. It was disappointing, but we continued to trust. On Oct. 29, 2008 we received a letter in the mail stating that we received a $3,000 grant from Shaohannahs Hope. I could not finish reading the letter. I had tears dripping off my face. ( I think my kids thought I was crazy- I only got the mail :-)
Of course this was all in Gods timing. I wanted to get a grant before we sent the Dossier to Ethiopia- so we didn't have to write a huge check out of our home equity loan- and get really close to the maximum amount we could afford. ( We had to write a $5,000 check that went with the Dossier paperwork for part of the country fee )
God has it all planned, and I know this is part of trusting in him.
This verse came to mind,
I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand....
Fear not, I will help you.
Isaiah 41:13