Florida Pastor and Wife Adopt Baby Brothers Found on Trash Bag Pile Outside Ministry Office
Feeling as though there was no better option, the parents asked Stewart if he would take the children in until they could figure out a living scenario.
As time passed and it became apparent that no better option was opening up for the boys, the parents asked the Stewarts in February if they would take legal custody of the children.
Although the Stewarts were not quite sure how they were going to pay the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to adopt children, the Stewarts agreed to adopt the children as members of the Stewart family having faith that God will help them raise the funds needed.
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"We just kept praying and knowing that God would support all of our needs," Stewart told CP. "We just kept believing in that and we never really had the worry of it."
In order to pay for the adoption costs, the Stewarts recently set up a GoFundMe online fundraising page. Within 24 hours, donations from around the globe surpassed the Stewart's initial $10,000 goal. In just over six days, the page has raised over $18,000.
"We didn't even know what GoFundMe was," Stewart admitted. "We check it periodically just to see what it was and then you see the $500 gifts and the $1,000 and the $5 gifts, which are just as important, and people's prayer comments who couldn't give."
Although the Stewarts have surpassed their initial goal, they have decided to keep the GoFundMe page open.
"I was going to take the GoFundMe down because we reached our goal but someone made a really good point to me that we have to raise them for the rest of their lives and we should keep it open to give someone an opportunity to pour into them," Stewart explained.
In looking back on how he and his family got involved in the lives of these two children, Stewart concludes that "its a God thing."
"We wouldn't normally be there on a Friday night. It was actually the first cold night of the year in Florida. It was warm and not really a lot of rain but for some reason that night it really dropped down low toward the 40s and it was starting to sprinkle and we saw thunderstorms coming in. That is when we approached this," he said. "God had them there and us there at same time to be part of this intervention for the boys."
Stewart is not yet certain when the adoption process will be final, but believes it will be finalized in the next few months.
