Pastor David and Jean Walker
As God led our family to begin our 3rd adoption, it was by far the largest step of faith my husband and I had taken. The financial aspect alone was daunting and overwhelming. Since we have always lived solely on my husband’s salary, our first two adoptions were financed by the savings set aside from my previous years of work. However, God had “surprised” us with the 3rd adoption—TWIN infant girls from China! We realized quickly that God had something special in store for us and for our church family (where my husband is pastor). It took a great deal of humility to ask for financial help, but we felt God was leading us to send out letters of testimony asking for support from “everyone” we knew. We soon came to realize that we would need a 501c3 organization for folks to give non-taxable donations through a reliable source.
I began researching organizations that did this, and was disheartened to discover that several kept a percentage of the money donated to cover their expenses. Then I came upon IC Orphans. Initially, I was a bit discouraged to read that their focus had shifted from assisting in the financial portion, but I felt led to contact them anyway. After sharing a bit of our story via email, I received a personal reply from Dan Dubell saying he felt the Board would be more than willing to receive donations on behalf of our family. Although it seems to be a small thing, it was huge to us. God used this simple acknowledgement to encourage us greatly and to affirm that He was indeed leading as we followed in faith and obedience. I also think that God connected us with Dan and IC Orphans for reasons that we may not yet even be aware of, and we are anxious to see what may come of that in the days ahead. Thank you, IC Orphans, for representing God’s voice as you said “yes” and walked beside us in such a practical way!