Peace

Peace. We have it. It is a gift. It only comes from the One who is Himself the Prince of Peace. Thank you Jesus for your peace!

 

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

  



Tomorrow's the big day. It's here. We are sorrowful, yet rejoicing. The anticipation will end, yet the reality of life post surgery will begin. We have a long road ahead of us! It struck us today as we watched Joy's adorable little hip swinging gait . . . this is the last time she will walk this way. And . . . this is the last time she will walk this way! It is bittersweet. We love her fully and completely just the way she is. We will miss her "Joy walk". But, we love her so much that we want to do whatever possible to help her. We pray that she will emerge strong and confident; that she will jump to her heart's content; that she will dance and spin; that she will run like the wind! However, our deepest desire through it all is that she will trust in her Savior; that she will cling to Him; that she will tell of what He has done; that she will love Jesus with her whole heart! No matter what . . . we will love Him!

"And the peace of God, which transends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

  



Preparing for Surgery

We are now just a few days away from surgery. Joy knows the date on the calendar that says "Joy's Cast". And her request is that it be a "pink cast"! We are not exactly sure if what is about to happen is truly registering, but how can she really understand "surgery" until she is living it? Every now and then she will randomly blurt out, "Doctor fix legs . . . Joy jump!" She has also occasionally stated, "Joy no like that cast." (Yes, she does often speak in the third person!) She goes back and forth from acceptance to denial. We aren't even sure if she really knows that there is anything wrong with her legs, since she has never known any different. However, she is such an observant little thing! I have watched her attempt to cross her unbendable legs several times "like Mommy and Mia". She also is aware of the fact that she falls a lot. Yet, she takes it all in stride and rarely cries or complains. Technically, it is her hips that are the culprit of the problem since they are both dislocated. After her hips are placed into the formed socket, the doctor believes that the knees will probably line up better. However, Joy will most likely need surgery on her knees as well. Invasive surgery is extremely painful, and 5 months in a body cast is a long time! We are trying to think of it in small doses rather than in its entirety.

Amazingly, we have very dear friends whose daughter recently underwent surgery on her hip. Joy was able to see what it looks like to be in a spica cast and to ride in a wheelchair. They have shared their pearls of wisdom and a plethora of practical advise about living with a spica cast. God is so personal, once again! It is knowing these same friends and their daughter's history with hip dysplasia that prompted us to be open to adopting a child with this same condition. Our God cares about every detail of our lives, and we continually stand in awe of His constant guidance and provision. When Joy's wheelchair arrived last weekend, the first thing she said was, "Just like Sarah.". :) She hopped right in with a huge smile on her face! She has already learned how to navigate herself around the house. Of course, it will be a bit different once she is in the cast, but the practice is so helpful.

 

We have been so incredibly blessed by how the Lord has shown His love and care to us through our church body. The consistent prayers and words of encouragement are a comfort to our hearts. And just last evening our care group surprisingly showered us with a care package full of treats, gift cards, numerous crafts, and items to keep Joy occupied during her state of immobility. Wow! We were so blown away by the generosity and love that went into this gift! We are humbled and grateful beyond words. Joy was pretty excited when she saw this . . . !

 

 

Thank you, everybody, for your love demonstrated through this amazing gift! We feel so loved!

 

"For the joy of the Lord is your strength!" Nehemiah 8:10 







Update on Linda

We recently received some new info on our precious Linda! A team of women and young girls went to China and visited the kiddos in the foster home where Linda lives. Some of them shared priceless pictures and even some video with us. It is so amazing to see our daughter's beautiful face and to know that she is doing well. Even more amazing is that this team was a part of telling Linda about us, her family. Once again, God is so personal! Our adopted "Grandma" who Linda is named after was leading this trip. She was able to bring a photo album of our family that we made and then share it with little Linda. A young woman who is a missionary and speaks Mandarin was able to read the words to Linda that we had written. With tears of joy in our eyes, we had the privilege of seeing her face as she found out that she has a family waiting for her. She is being adopted! She is an orphan no longer. She is our daughter!

 

"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6

 

A special woman on the trip shared these words with us, "I have to tell you that your little Linda is such a light. What a beautiful, happy little girl…Im sure you know this but "wow" she is an amazing little girl. She hung on to your scrapbook all day and asked us to re-read it to her!!!"

 

What words of encouragement! Our hearts are full of joy and excitement. We can hardly wait to bring our little Linda home!

 

The team also took the kids on a fun outing to KFC . . . yes, even in China! It looks as though this girl loves her food! :)

 

 

She is wearing "several" of the clips we sent her! So cute! And the stickers on the face seem to be a global occurrence as my sister recently pointed out. :)

 

We continue to pray and wait! We are so thankful for this update. We know and trust that God's timing will be perfect to bring this little one home! We love you, Linda!!


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.