Prayers for Joy

Joy is less than two weeks away from undergoing some pretty tough physical trials. Our prayer for her is that "the joy of the Lord will be her strength". Her first surgery has been scheduled. It is daunting. We love this girl so much, and we wish we didn't have to watch her suffer. Yet, God uses all things in our lives to draw us near to Him and to accomplish His purposes in our lives. We pray that our sovereign heavenly Father will build in us all a deep compassion and mercy for others because of what we will face. I fear that all of this will change Joy. Why do I fear? Didn't God plan all of this from the beginning of time? Hasn't He always proven Himself to be good, kind, loving, and trustworthy? He holds Joy's life in His hands. He loves her even more than we do. Will this all change her? Probably. But for the better. Yes, her physical body will be better. However, prayerfully this change will cause her heart to be molded more and more into the image of Christ. I pray that God will use this to draw her to Himself and to eventually break her heart for what breaks His. I pray that for myself. Please, God, use it for your glory! Please use Joy's life to bring honor to your name!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Joy!

Our baby turned 4 yesterday!

She could hardly wait to celebrate!

It was such a delight to watch her celebrate surrounded by her family! She is treasured, loved and adored! We are so thankful to our heavenly Father for the gift of Joy's life!

 

 

 

We love you, Joy!

Our Precious Linda

 

Linda! We have another daughter! It's official . . . the approximate 6 month wait time has begun. The dossier has been sent, the arrangements made, the sovereignty of God revealed. He has planned for little Linda to join our family since the beginning of time. Her story has unfolded in an incredible way and could only have been written by our all-knowing heavenly Father. Once again, we are just His willing participants in the wonderful blessing of adoption.

There are so many ways that God has shown Himself to be personal to us through the story of Linda, and I will attempt to share as much as I can. A year and a half ago my brother in law and niece traveled to China on a mission trip to care for precious children who resided in two different group foster homes. At the time we were in the beginning stages of our first adoption. Knowing the name of one of the foster homes, we looked up their website and witnessed the faces of the children who lived there. One little girl jumped off the page, there was just something about her. Her name was listed as "Linda". When our brother in law returned from the trip, he gushed about this little precious "doll" of a girl named Linda. We really didn't know much about the matching process at the time, yet we began the pursuit to adopt her. We came to find out that little Linda was named for a very special lady who works from the U.S. to advocate for the kiddos at this foster home. We were so excited! We prayed. We trusted. We were at peace. We left the results up to God. About a month later, we received word that Linda had been matched to another family through another agency's individual list. There was nothing more we could do. We were sad; we didn't completely understand. It just seemed so clear that this little one was meant for us. But we trusted and knew that God was in control and that nothing would thwart His plans. I continued to pray for that little girl. She was in my heart, and it was not easy to let her go.

Well, about a month later we were so ready to say "yes"! We knew that there was a little girl somewhere out there meant just for us. Then we saw her face. Our sweet little Joy! She was one of the first children designated to our agency's individual list. We had time. We prayed, we researched, we hoped, we prayed some more. We said our "yes" to our precious Joy! Fast forward to a few months before we were getting ready to travel to go get our precious daughter. (I realize that I say "precious" a lot. It's just that all children truly are precious in His sight!)

Anyways, we received a phone call out of the blue to tell us that little Linda's adoption had fallen through. And the next sentence was, "Do you still want her?" Do we still want her? Yes, of course we still want her! This was just too incredible for words. Had God really planned for Linda to be our daughter? We had heard Him correctly, it's just that His timing is not ours. He was orchestrating a plan way better than we could have imagined. If we had been matched with Linda the first time, we would not have our Joy! God is so personal! He is so good and kind! He had double blessings in store for us. We don't always understand why He sometimes says "no", but he allowed us to see it so clearly! He in fact did not say "no", but "wait". And if I am truly honest, I just knew that our part in Linda's story was not yet over. What is impossible with God? Nothing!

It wasn't easy, and there were many details to work out. But God has done it. He is our Good Shepherd, and we are doing our best to follow Him where He leads. Two adoptions in less than a year would not have been our plan. But it's His, and He always knows best. We can hardly wait to bring our little Linda home. Her name means "beautiful", and her story truly is one of beauty. Our God is writing it, and we know that He has beautiful plans for her precious life. We are so thankful to be a part of it! Joy is especially happy about her new sister!

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Our Precious Joy

Joy is precious! She is such a delightful, beautiful person, and we feel joy beyond words at how much we love this little girl. We can hardly believe that our heavenly Father would be so kind as to give us the gift of this amazing child. We have set our affection upon her, and she in return has set hers upon us. She trusts us. She loves us. She is ours, and we are hers. Some words to describe Joy . . .

Affectionate. We often describe her this way. She readily gives hugs and kisses, and she has a smile that will warm any heart.

Polite. She uses the words "please", "thank you", and "I love you" freely and intentionally. Just this evening she wanted to pass by Dean's legs to get to the couch, and she kindly said, "Excuse me."

Silly. She can often be heard laughing from the gut, which makes it impossible not to laugh out loud right along with her. She likes to make us laugh and also makes us feel as if we have the funniest jokes she has ever heard.

Encouraging. She often says "good job" to anyone who has accomplished even the slightest task.

Talkative. She is learning English at a rapid pace and continues to amaze us every day at the new words and phrases she is picking up. Some of her newest ones are "yep" and "mmm hmmm" . . . so cute.

Cuteness. Sometimes the cuteness is almost more than we can bear!

Sweet. She is kind and loving and makes sure that we all receive equal attention.

Tender-hearted. She will quickly say she is sorry when she has wronged someone and will also quickly offer her forgiveness. But also a bit sassy!

Joy! That is the name that the Lord gave to us for this little precious. That one word pretty much sums it all up!

We are loving every minute of getting to know this little girl, our daughter, our sister. We know that the Lord has good plans for her life. He divinely placed her into our family, and it truly seems to be a perfect fit.