THE REDEMPTION STORY! THE BRIGGS STORY (PT. 2)

Hi Friends and Supporters!

As we approach the end of March and the end our fundraiser for the Briggs family (To donate to the Briggs family, go here), I am reminded of whats coming!

Easter is in just a few short weeks and it’s the time of year where we are reminded of God’s Redemptive Power!

How he takes a hopeless heart and fills them with joy! How he takes our broken pieces and makes us whole. That’s only something He can do! As you go into the celebration of the resurrection of our Savior, remembering what He did for us, be reminded as well how He has adopted you into His family through His only Son. We are all adopted and we are all redeemed!

Here’s the not final piece of the Brigg’s journey but the redemption story He has given them through a tiny little baby….just the same way He used a tiny little baby to redeem us all.

Here’s the story in Hannah’s own words.

“We have our little girl. God is so kind to give her to us.

Looking back, we clearly see why God had us walk down the path we did, to be scammed out of our adoption savings, to cry more tears than I have ever cried,and to go through more heartbreak than we have ever experienced. It was all for this little bundle.

We received a text from our adoption agency on Monday, November 26th, that a baby girl had been born and that she needed a family. We didn't have much information at all but felt a complete peace about the situation and decided to present to the birth mother right away. In a matter of hours, we were chosen to be her parents! Birth mom signed over her rights the very next day and the days that followed we prepared to travel to our baby.

OUR baby!It seemed so surreal! We were parents!!!

We were told Coco could be in the NICU for a few weeks because she was born 7 weeks early and only weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces. Josh planned to stay the first week and then travel back to work and I would prepare to stay until Coco was discharged from the hospital, however long that would be. We traveled to her later that week and when we walked into that NICU unit, we were motioned to the little incubator that housed our baby. They removed the blanket covering the incubator and we looked on our beautiful Colette for the first time.

What a little beauty she was! Josh gave me a delighted exclamation, "She's so precious!" and I stuck my hand through the glass window to lay it over her tiny body and whisper, "Hi, baby girl. Mommy and Daddy are here."

The baby girl that we had been praying for all along was right in front of our eyes. Our prayers had not been wasted. The Colette that we had talked about and prayed for was this tiny beautiful little creature. God had taken those prayers that we had thought were going toward a particular child and had administered them to her. He had prepared us to be her parents all along. Before the foundation of the world, this child was meant to be in our arms, and our hearts forever. God miraculously protected our little one and she has amazed the doctors and nurses over and over again.

One of our beloved NICU nurses even told us that in the 30 years that she had been a nurse, she never saw a case quite like Colette's and the progress she had made. It is all a testament to God's protection and the answer to so many prayers by not only her parents but the countless people that have prayed for her since the beginning.

Our days in the NICU were such a blessed time as we bonded as a new family of three. We spent time reading and singing to, feeding, changing, bathing, cuddling, and studying every little feature of our baby girl. She is so beautiful and such a picture of God's grace and faithfulness to us. She is far more amazing than we could ever hope for and we can't wait to spend our days treasuring her and showing her the love of Jesus.

This past year has been one of the hardest of our lives but also the most rewarding. It has been so amazing to witness God's faithfulness to us first hand and to have a daily reminder before us that He is sovereign and He is good.

We want to thank every single person who has prayed for us, sacrificed financially to bless our little family, and have encouraged our hearts along this adoption journey. We have had family and friends spend countless hours helping us raise money, given sacrificially, and have come along side us when we wanted to give up. You guys will always have a special place in our hearts and your gestures have meant more to us than you will ever know.”

Josh, Hannah and Colette Briggs

IT WAS ALL A SCAM!! THE BRIGGS STORY (PT.1)

Josh and Hannah experienced something recently that was heartbreaking! The kind of thing that makes you question where you went wrong or how did you not see this coming? It makes you stop and question if you should continue on the journey to adoption or maybe this isn’t meant to be. Emotionally it’s hard, but also financially it’s hard too.

Josh and Hannah had saved and fundraised for a long time in the hope’s of becoming parents through adoption, just to have that money lost by someone who was scamming them the whole time. Read firsthand here the blog post Hannah wrote during this time on her personal blog Thistle Harvest and join us in helping re-coupe a portion of what was stolen from them here as we continue our March Madness Basketball inspired fundraiser for the Briggs family.

“As many of you may know by now, we heard the heartbreaking news last week

that our adoption match was a scam. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the

email informing us of the FBI investigation, telling us to reach out to some

lawyers that we had never spoken with, to receive more information. We had to

find the hard facts out for ourselves and determine if this birth mom we had

spoken with on the phone was a figment of our imagination.

After some investigation, we were told (and proved it to be true) that our birth

mother and baby were completely fabricated and that a woman was hired to

speak to us on the phone on different occasions to make us feel safe and secure

about the placement. I told this crooked social worker and her accomplice (our

"birth mother") how excited we were to be parents, how I was purchasing things

for our little girl, preparing her nursery, and that I prayed for them every single

day. "Birth mom" even asked me if I was excited to find out that it was a girl and

our gender reveal video was shared with our social worker who seemed

genuinely excited for us.

I know it is difficult for others to understand, but this was the closest we had ever

been to becoming parents. We have been through many fertility treatments but I

haven't ever had the privilege of carrying a baby, even for a short amount of time.

This baby girl was very real to us and had already taken hold of our hearts. We

called her by name and dreamt of what the future held for the three of us.

I will never fully understand why we were chosen to walk this path. Our trust has

been severely broken. There have been times that I have cried so hard that it's

been difficult to breathe. We had to close the nursery door for a few days so that

we would not be reminded of the deep pain we both were feeling.

We have taken some time to grieve our loss and while we are still fighting the

gross injustice, heart-wrenching pain, and breach of trust, we are trying to move

past this nightmare and fulfill our dream of having a family. We won't let this

horrible act discourage us from pursuing our child. God never stopped pursuing

us and we refuse to give up. We want our children to know someday without a

shadow of a doubt that we loved them fiercely and pursued them with everything

we had. Throughout this whole ordeal, I am constantly reminded of the Father's

love for us and how He pursues us and loves us with a perfect love. We are his

children and He will never stop fighting for us.

Our plan now is to fight for justice. To do everything in our power to get our story

out there when we are able to speak out and advocate for adoptive parents, for

birth mothers, and for their unborn babies. No one should ever take advantage of

some of the most vulnerable people in the world and if they do, they should know

that they will pay dearly for their crimes.

We are fighting to try to recover the devastating financial blow that we have been

dealt. We are desperately trying to get our money back so that we can continue to pursue adoption.

We know our baby is out there and at times we have become so discouraged that this circumstance has delayed our journey to find them.

Just the other day, I was speaking with Josh and I was frustrated that we were

going to be delayed in our adoption and didn't know when we would finally be

able to add to our family. I felt like the Lord spoke to both of us in different ways

but revealed the same truth: that His delay wasn't a denial. Nothing catches Him

by surprise. We fully trust in His sovereignty. Everything He places in our lives is

divinely orchestrated by the God of the universe. He makes no mistakes. Even

these unfortunate circumstances and the timing will lead us to the baby that He

has always meant for us to have

.

We are stepping out by faith and our continuing our adoption journey. Please

pray for us, pray for our baby and birth mother, and pray that God would restore

what evil men have taken. “

Come back for part 2 of this story next week! It’s gonna be a good one!