During high school, Alana knew that she wanted to adopt one day. When she met and married Dan Rasbach, she asked him to consider adoption. Dan was hesitant at first, but he began having experiences that opened his heart to the idea of adopting a child. First, the couple attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in their first year of marriage and learned about the Chapmans’ adoption journey and Show Hope. The couple then spent several years in China, where they formed friendships with people who were adopted or had adopted children.
Although Dan was becoming more familiar with adoption, the biggest obstacle in his mind remained the finances. An adoptive couple Dan and Alana knew wisely advised, “God loves orphans even more than you do. If you are willing to adopt, He will provide the resources.” This advice provided the needed encouragement in the Rasbachs’ decision to move forward on their own adoption journey.
Dan and Alana were chosen by a birth mother and matched almost immediately, leaving them little time for the fundraisers they thought they would be able to hold. Instead, the couple found themselves shy of the amount they needed with only a short time before their baby boy was due. At just the right moment, the Rasbachs found out they were the recipients of an adoption aid grant provided by generous Show Hope sponsors. Dan writes,
“As you can imagine, we were very excited about adopting Shen, but it was also scary at times from a financial standpoint. My wife and I would like to thank the Show Hope sponsors for the part you played in bringing our baby boy home to us this past year. Every day we feed and hold and cuddle and bounce our big baby, our hearts are full of the joy of life and adoption. We are eager to adopt more children down the road, and now have experienced first-hand that God is able and willing to pave the way.”
