Welcome to our Promise Love Family Gibsons!!!

Please join us in giving a BIG promise love welcome to the Gibson family!!! Promise Love has had to take a back seat this year due to the current climate. Asking for donations during this time is a very hard thing to do, as we know everyone is in a tighter spot than normal. However, when the Gibsons applied with Promise Love, we felt this beautiful family was the fit that God was asking us to get behind! So in this time, where the world seems to be upside down, take heart…good is still happening in the world! Be a part of the good!

The Gibsons have put in $20,000 of their own funds and now they are currently in need of raising $30,000 towards the remaining fees for their adoption. They are matched with a birth mom who is due August 24th!!!! That’s right around the corner. So we want to support them in reaching their goal!!!

Would you consider a gift of any size?

Donate Now

“May the Lord give you increase, you and your children"! Psalm 115:14

From the Gibsons:

We are blessed to experience the love and joys of parenthood with our three children Saniah 9, Caleb 11 and Kadin 12. Seeing them grow in their talents, explore new skills such as basketball, hockey, piano, dance and gymnastics and experience special family moments that we create together has made our hearts swell and is one of the greatest joys of our lives. Understanding the importance of a child being raised in a stable and loving home, we have been heartbroken over the years again and again to learn about the hundreds of thousands of kids who are shuffled around for years in foster homes. We are even more saddened to know that existing foster families are not able to support even half of these children who will grow up never knowing what it means to be loved and secure.

The question we asked ourselves…”is what can we do”?

The answer we felt fit out family the best was to become adoptive parents!! We have a heart for children as well as birth moms who find themselves in desperate situations. We want to be able to give a child the life that his/her birth mom chose them to have.

We are so grateful to be matched with a young birth mom currently, who has chosen us to provide a loving and stable home for her child. As we anticipate adding this child to our family to be loved and cared for, we ask for your support with the significant financial obligations that are part of this process. With over $20,000 invested on our end, we still need to raise nearly $30,000 by placement in just a few short months! Your support means so much to our family, especially during this time when giving is a stretch. But we know God rewards a cheerful giver! So we know He will bless you in return as you sow into a future generation. Thank you in advance from the bottom of our hearts!

Love,

The Gibsons.

Welcome the Helms Family to the Promise Love Family!!!

We’ve been so blessed to have some awesome families we’ve presented to you this summer! And today we have another one! I hope you enjoy reading about these sweet families and their journeys as much as we do! Today we are introducing you to the Helms family…and what better way for you to hear who they are then directly from them! Please watch their video below and share their story!

Our goal for the Helms family is $10,000! Scroll down to donate or go here!

A quick update on the Helms family….THEY JUST BECAME MATCHED WITH A BIRTH MOM THIS WEEK!!! BABY IS DUE IN JULY….THAT’S THIS MONTH!!! We will keep you updated on the Helms family!

IMG_9428.TRIM from Promise Love Foundation on Vimeo.

Here’s the Helms story!

We are Cody and Victoria Helms! We met in February of 2015, and instantly became inseparable. After a year of dating,Cody proposed following a helicopter ride over downtown Fort Worth, Texas. We got married just 5 short months later! Cody has been a local Firefighter/Paramedic for the last 6 years and Victoria is an Anesthesia Technician in the O.R.We always knew we wanted to be parents; however, we decided to wait a couple years before trying so that we could grow in our marriage together. Just 8 months into our marriage, Victoria began to have some health complications and underwent a minor surgery. During that time, we were told if we wanted to have children we needed to start trying, as Victoria would most likely need a full hysterectomy in the future, potentially much earlier in life than most would expect.We started trying immediately and were so excited about the hope of starting our family together! After an unsuccessful 10 months of trying Victoria knew something wasn’t right and called her doctor to have some testing and blood work done. Her results came back a month later indicating that she was not ovulating and had low progesterone levels. The suggested treatment was to start a particular medicine,and we thought it would be an easy fix for the issue. The doctors also recommended running some tests on Cody to rule out any male factor infertility,so we decided to go ahead and do that. We wanted to know what we were dealing with so we could have every chance possible for success. A couple months later we received the results from Cody’s testing, and it was worse than we’d anticipated. Because of the issues with both of our bodies, we were told we could never conceive children—that it just wasn’t in the cards for us. To say the least, we were heartbroken to receive this news. Over the following months, we grieved—grieved the loss of time spent trying to conceive, not knowing it wasn’t possible; grieved over the betrayal we felt from our bodies; and grieved the loss of the future we had always assumed and pictured would happen. We spent a lot of time in prayer and with our families, who rallied to support us during this time.Early in our relationship we had talked about adoption and both knew that it was something we wanted to together at some point. In those early conversations we did not know exactly how adoption would play in our family planning journey,however,we knew it would be apart of growing our family. The night after Christmas of 2018, we took a leap of faith and filled out a form to receive some more information on adoption. After that, we began to research everything we possibly could about adoption and started to actively take steps to pursue it. By February 2019, we completed our home study, and by the first week of March we signed on with our agency. The process was officially underway,and we could not have been more excited! Based on the recent placements the agency had made, we were told there was a good chance we would be placed within 6 months!!With excitement and the renewed hope of finally being one step closer to adding a precious child to our family, we have both been working lots of overtime as we prepare financially to welcome a sweet baby into our home. As much as our hearts have been ready, we believe that God’s timing is absolutely perfect. We know that He has been and will remain with us during our season of waiting so we will continue to praise Him through it, and as we wait, we will continue use this season to prepare as much as we can–emotionally, physically, and financially—so that when the time is right, we will be ready when we finally meet our beloved baby!

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

Do For One What You Wish You Could Do For All

Today we want to tell you a little bit about the little guy you are pouring into and loving on through this time! The little man the Tobey’s have fell in love with and can’t wait to be able to hold and hug him everyday!

Luke has been in the orphanage since the death of his mother in March of 2012.  His mom died when Luke was just a couple of weeks old and his father and his aunt brought him to the orphanage certain he was near death.  Brenda and the team arrived in the morning and as you heard on the video, met Luke for the first time and stepped right into the role of caretaker for him. She fell in love with this tiny baby and strongly felt this one was different from the rest! This one was meant to be in her arms for longer than just a week during her stay.

 Luke’s biological father knows where he is and has come to the orphanage a couple of times to see him, but is unable to care for him. He also has other children and even when offered the support to reunify with the family, desired to have Luke stay where he is.  He has come to meet The Tobey’s during their visits to see Luke and has expressed his happiness in their relationship with Luke.  He has verbalized to the authorities as well that he has a strong desire for Luke to be adopted by the Tobey Family.  

The name of the orphanage Luke currently lives in is Cabaret Haiti Mission, Inc. You can check them out here!

https://www.cabarethaitimission.org    

Luke's parents at the orphanage are Mike and Bonnie Snider or Papa Mike and Momma Bonnie as they are called by all the children who live there. They have lived in Haiti at the Children's home since 2010 and are the loving parents to the 50 kids living there!! Luke is actually pretty spoiled:)  Since he's been there since he was several weeks old, he has made his way "upstairs" where the kids are only allowed on special occasions, he can often be found sharing a cup of coffee with Momma Bonnie in the am or even stealing a snuggle in bed.  When Brenda goes to visit Luke, she stays at the orphanage with them and Luke is her wake up call:-) He likes to come into where we stay and sneak into bed for cuddles. 

Mike and Bonnie have made the adoption process tolerable for The Tobey’s because they know he is loved and cared for so very well.  They do an incredible job of loving on all the kids!  

Currently Luke is obsessed with Captain America.  He attends school and loves to play soccer like all kids at the orphanage.  He loves praise and worship and he likes to perform dances and singing on open Mic night every Saturday night in the commons area of the orphanage.  

Luke will turn 7 in January.  This is 7 birthdays, 7 Christmas’s, 7 of everything that we have missed sharing with him.  Many firsts of walking, talking, playing, days of school etc.  Though these firsts haven't been experienced here at home with his family at the orphanage, the Tobey’s have been able to share in much of the joy of these special events because of the contact with Mike and Bonnie and their regular visits.   

Long Family Official Party of 5 Update!

Today was the day! Adoption day for Evelyn & Zach's 3rd adopted child, 3 year old Carson!  So we wanted you to give you a little fundraising update!

So far we have raised $1171 of the $5000 goal that they need to complete this adoption!

That's $3829 that we are hoping to raise in the next few weeks.  You can help this family by donating here. 

I can't tell you enough how amazing this family is. Please partner with us to bless them by completing their fundraising goal.  God has put them in our path and on our hearts to help as they so selflessly help children who need a forever family!   Thank you so much for all of you who have walked along side them and donated already. 

Meet the Martinez Family

We are so excited to share with you our 2nd Promise Love Family for 2017!  Check out Gil and Mary Jo's family story below.  We are partnering with them to raise the $27,000 they need to make their adoption possible!  Click HERE to donated and help be a part of their adoption story! 

The Martinez Family from Promise Love Foundation on Vimeo.

A big surprise for the Long Family!!

Evelyn & Zack - Adoption Surprise! from Promise Love Foundation on Vimeo.

Welcome The Swobodas to The Promise Love Family!!!

We are SO EXCITED to announce our newest Promise Love family!  Please give a big warm welcome to the Swoboda's!   All adoption stories are different and unique, Cody and Ashley Swoboda are adopting their 3 of their nieces.  You may be wondering, why would it cost to adopt family members?  All adoptions have a range of fees involved, which include court costs, attorney fees, birth certificates, etc etc.   

THE TOTAL goal We are partnering with them to raise which will give these 3 sisters a permanent forever home IS $15,000.
Help them reach their goal by Donating now. 

And without further ado, please read their story, straight from Cody and Ashley!  We'll be posting updates on their goal and story so be on the lookout! 

Cody and Ashley with their soon to be daughters!

"We came to realize the full depth of our longing to adopt these three beautiful girls one night in November 2014.  Cody was standing in the kitchen making dinner (as is characteristic of our little duo since Ashley only knows how to properly make Ramen noodle soup), when all of a sudden he held his face in his hands and began to weep.  Through tears he said, "I just love them so much, Ash... and... I think God's calling me to be their father."  What Cody didn't know is that Ashley had been having a recurring dream for months on-end wherein the two of them welcomed these sweet girls into their forever family.  In that moment, it was clear that God had been uniquely and individually preparing our hearts and minds for something extraordinary.  He was calling us to truly consider adopting our nieces into our family to raise them as our very own daughters.

The road to doing so, however, was clearly laden with seemingly insurmountable obstacles and so we began the process of intentionally seeking the Lord in prayer.  Though we wanted desperately to share our hopes with the decision-makers involved in the girls' lives, time in prayer continually yielded a call to wait on His timing.  And so, we waited.  For months, we waited.  In the season that followed, our relationships with the girls deepened and we began to recognize a strong and indescribable connection with each of them.  And although these seemed like indicators that the Lord was moving and that we ought to be too, we again heard His distinct voice of wisdom urging us to wait on Him.

It wasn't until October 2015 that we finally were granted an open window of opportunity to share our hearts with one of the decision-makers.  And although the response was a resounding, "Thanks but no thanks," we knew that this conversation was the seed that God would use to take root and eventually bear fruit.  The very next day, something extraordinary happened.  Someone in our community of faith, with whom we had little to no interaction at the time, approached us and shared a vision God had given him about us... and friends, it was a vision of adoption.  "God is going to give you children whose childhood has been taken from them and you're going to teach them how to be kids again, you're going to teach them how to play, and you're going to model the love of Christ for them."  These words, these prophetic words, cut straight to the core of us, and we wept like babies.

These girls have experienced more heartache, more disappointment, and more pain than any seven, eight, and fourteen year old should ever know.  And no matter how hard their parents tried, they simply could not provide the kids with a safe and stable living environment.  As a result, they were removed from their home in May 2013.  Although we all waited in hopeful expectation for their mom and dad to complete their case plans, change their lifestyles, and bring their beautiful children home, after three years they have yet to do so.

Friends, there is no denying that God has so masterfully orchestrated the events of our lives in such a way that His redemption can be known intimately by us all.  And this divine union of familial love is so tangibly laced with the grace of God.  We could not be more grateful nor humbled to know that our lives might be granted the honor of speaking for the lives of these beautiful girls.  Will you join us in raising the needed funds for private adoption as we seek to finally give these girls what they desperately need: permanency and stability found in a unified and loving family?  May the Lord bless all that you set your hand to for the glory of His name. " - Cody and Ashley Swobod

The Boyer Family's new little bundle!

The Boyer family's new little addition arrived on 7.17.15!! Miss Breeja Ruth was born at 5:40am albs 9 oz and 19 inches long! They are head over heels in love with this little princess and are home enjoying the sweetest moments with her and their family. Cricket is actually awaiting the birth of her baby, if you read their story she is pregnant and their 2nd addition should be arriving very soon!  To give you an update on their fundraising, they are still in need of just over $13,000 to meet their goal.  We will continue to help them raise money to reach this goal over the coming months until they finalize Breeja's adoption.  

Thank you to all who have shared and given so far and keep helping us spread the word!!  Help them reach their goal by donating HERE.  

They also have 20 freezer meals left to sell from the 2 Blessed to be stressed fundraiser: 
$20 each meal (to feed 2+ people) for baked spaghetti, parmesan rolls, and dessert. Contact Cricket at: Thebugsy15@hotmail.com

A big thank you to Haley from Carrie Wildes Photography who captured these first moments of them with her! 

Team Devries Adoption Day!

April 28th, 2015 is a very happy day for the Promise Love family!!  Dan & Davina Devries finalized their 3 children's adoption today!  Xander, Prudence, and Levi officially became a part of team Devries forever!!! Holly, Saul, David, Carrie (me:-) and all our kiddos got to witness it in court. Now these 3 siblings will get to grow up together in an amazing home.  We could not be happier or more proud of them for making a difference in 3 tiny lives.  Thank you to all of you who have been a part of it and supported them as well, we couldn't do it without you!