Hello sweet readers.
I know, we’ve been MIA. I’m so sorry about that. I have some sweet photos to put up, and catch up blogging to do, and I really need to write an adoption update. This next week or so might bring us some answers and news (maybe good, maybe not). There’s a lot more and I really will try to wrap my brain around how to share it all with you all.
But right now I wanted to share with you some sweet reminders we’ve had of the miracle of adoption.
We so often we forget WHO’s writing this story and our feeble hearts get anxious and fearful and oh, so weary. our adoption journey has definitely not been what I hoped it would be and we get discouraged all too often. I am SO incredibly grateful for the people the Lord has placed in our lives who remind us of what he’s up to, whether they know it or not.
Eric and I had the great privilege as newly weds to be in home group with this dear family. They were some of the first friends we shared with about going to Japan and then about Noa being born. We loved being in their home, which was full of life with their 4 children and new puppy. Their youngest, Alex, had just been added to their family through adoption, and I remember just marveling as I held him at how unaware he was of the incredible blessings God had poured out on him in giving him this family, and being equally struck by what a blessing and gift he was to each of them.
Anyway, even though we haven’t lived near each other for half a decade now, I am so blessed by how God uses them to encourage and bless our growing family still. I can’t begin to tell y’all how timely some of her words, in either blog posts or personal notes, have been for us as we’ve walked this road. I am ever so grateful for God’s work in this family, and how it has overflowed to bless us.
And all that to say, you will love reading their stories, but if you can’t read them all, you have GOT TO READ this one. THIS is what adoption is about. Oh, it just makes me weep with joy that God is doing this. Praise HIM!
quick adoption update:
We were so hoping we would have good news to share by now, but there has been nothing…or at least nothing good! Instead we have heard more heartbreaking news about children who were with our kids in their orphanage passing away from measles or other things. We have never felt so out of control or at the mercy of others.
Still, we know true mercy, WHO it comes from, and are choosing (sometimes with the tiniest fleck of faith) to believe that He is doing all things for our good and his glory and he loves these precious boys more than we do.
Please keep praying. We are told that there should be some answers, or at least a precedent set for how cases like ours will be dealt with sometime tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow could come with no news, so we are trying to prepare our hearts for that while still being hopeful and prayerful.
Thank you for praying and hoping with us!
I’ve been avoiding writing an update on the adoption for the last two weeks because it was going to be a tough update to write.
We have been at another stand-still in our adoption with no news on our case, and nothing happening for families ever a step ahead of us in the process for the last 3 months. Things were not only standing still, but seemed to be moving backwards. Two weeks ago we heard more hard news that made it seem like we would never get the boys, or at least not for a long long time. It’s been two weeks of feeling like we needed to grieve, but not wanting to completely give up hope and definitely wanting to fight in prayer for our precious boys.
Well, PRAISE BE TO GOD, last Thursday He moved some mountains in Ethiopia to allow many children to be on their way to their forever families. And since all those children were ‘one step ahead’ of where we are in the process, cases like ours are finally top of the list in the line-up to be dealt with. We’ve been told there will be some kind of plan or decision made regarding cases in our category this Tuesday. Now, we know from past experience that that doesn’t necessarily mean we will hear anything on Tuesday, but we are HOPING and PRAYING for God to do his thing and wow us with good news next week in time for Thanksgiving.
Thank you so much to all of you who pray for us and these precious baby boys so faithfully. I was telling a dear friend the other day that we have literally felt carried. It has been a hard two weeks, and there were days that it was hard to even pray. We are so blessed to have so many who haven’t grown weary of lifting us and Jonathan and David before the throne. Would you please keep praying?
Some things to pray for:
-That they would approve proceeding with adoption for cases in our situation, and that we would finally be given a COURT DATE. We are also asking the Lord to give us a clear answer about our case NEXT WEEK, and boldly asking to be given a court date QUICKLY (I can go tomorrow if they need me there by then!). 
*The Tuesday work day in Ethiopia starts in the middle of the night EST. So if you are up late at night tomorrow and want to be praying in “real time”, please DO!
-That our director who is in ET now would be able to visit the boys and love on them for us, as well as check on them and take pictures.
-We’ve heard measles has been going through their orphanage and we’re desperate to know J&D are ok. Please pray they would be protected and that we can get them out of there SOON.
-There are just so many children and families represented in all this craziness so please be in prayer for them too.
-Pray for our hearts. This has truly been a roller coaster and we’re begging the Lord that this good news keeps coming. Still, our hearts are a little fragile from all the disappointments. We want to hope and pray boldly while still being open to whatever God has for us, even if it isn’t how we would write the story.
THANK YOU!
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
And gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My sons from afar
And My daughters from the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 43:5-6
This is obviously something our family cares a lot about, and if you’re in God’s family, you do too (whether you know it or not)!
Why Love Orphans? from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.
Since I shared the photos of sweet Jonathan yesterday, I wanted to share some of David too.
Oh sweet David.
Our first photos of him must have been taken with a phone, because they are tiny and impossible to blow up. Even the wallet sizes that I printed off came out fuzzy.
Still, we saw his precious face and were in love immediately. I would spend hours just starting at them and wondering, “who are you, little boy?”
He was one month old when we first saw him. And while we thought he was incredibly cute then, this sweet boy just gets cuter and cuter as he grows.
David at 2 months
David at 5 months
David at 6 months
Can you tell how adorably handsome this little guy is, even with that silly heart sticker on his face? If you can’t, take my word for it. God did such a good job when he made this baby boy. We praise Him for his creation and look to Him to work wonders in this precious life.
Today is a hard day.
For many reasons.
Today marks 8 months since we’ve been waiting for Jonathan and David to join our family. 8 months of loving these two little boys and still not really knowing them. 8 months of praying and aching and trusting God to place them in our arms but being at the exact same place we were in the process 8 months ago, except maybe 2 steps back from it (more on that later). 8 months of “waiting purgatory” (I saw it described as that yesterday and the description is perfect for what this 8 months has felt like). 8 months of waking every morning hopeful that something wonderful and positive happened in Ethiopia while we slept, but instead the only surprises have been horribly sad and hard things happening while we sleep. 8 months of trying desperately to find the balance of being joyfully expectant and ready for God to work miracles, but realistic and open to whatever he sees fit to do. 8 months of begging him to please not wait to bring them home until I learn every lesson I need to learn in the wait, because I know I won’t and can’t.
Worst of all, 8 months of these precious lives that we’ve missed and 8 months of family that they have missed.
8 months ago today, we saw this precious face for the first time:
Jonathan at 4 months
We knew the minute we saw him and that he was the older of the two babies that he would be Jonathan, because we’ve always known our first born son would be Jonathan.
So today, 8 months later, he’s one year old.
And while we don’t know his exact birthday, we’re here stuck in the middle of rejoicing and weeping.
Oh we celebrate his life. How often I have praised God for creating and protecting and preserving this precious boy. We are SO THANKFUL that he was born and so thankful that he was found and brought to a place where he was safe and fed and cared for, and “given” to us to love and pray for and hope for.
But we ache that we’ve missed his first birthday, and more significantly, his whole first year. Instead of being in a family, he has been passed from place to place and person to person. Even in just what we know, he’s been moved 4 times in this year, and that doesn’t include where he was before we knew about him. I can hardly bear to think about how his young and tender heart has hurt in his short life and wonder and pray that God would bring redemption and healing and glory from it all.
Jonathan at 5 months
Jonathan at 8 months
Jonathan at 9 months
I never wanted to share photos of them on here until I was allowed to share their whole precious faces. But that was when I thought it would be 2 or 3 months until they were officially our sons.
Today I am putting these up for 2 reasons. One is in honor or Jonathan’s birthday, so you can get even a glimpse of that precious smile and cuddly little body. He is fearfully and wonderfully made and we praise GOD, his creator and sustainer.
The second reason is that today we heard more bad news about the situation in the southern region where the boys are. Things are looking more and more like we won’t be able to adopt them, at least for a very very long time, and I want to share them with you while they are still, in a very real but unofficial way, my boys.
This has been a hard 8 months and it doesn’t look like the coming months will get any easier.
But it’s been 8 months of seeing God provide in new and extravagant ways. It’s been 8 months of being desperate and asking for help and prayers again and again and again and watching God’s people step up and be his arms and feet and voice to us. It’s been 8 months of asking God how I am going to do this another day (“do this”, meaning not be able to do anything but wait and pray) and watching Him bring me to the close of every day having survived the wait and even seen his goodness and felt his blessings over and over again. It’s been 8 months of digging in the depths of my heart and seeing the ugliness and faithlessness and self-sufficiency that is so rooted there. It’s been 8 months of being totally honest with God and finding Him to be my rock, a total safe place for my anxious heart. It’s been 8 months (well, maybe 6) of telling God, “this isn’t what I signed up for,” and hearing him remind me gently, “Yes it is. You signed up for this when you said you trusted me.”
Looking back on these 8 months makes me dread the coming months, but looking back makes me know we can face them with confidence. Not because we know what will happen (we feel more in the dark about that than ever before), but because these last 8 months have taught us a tiny bit more about trusting Jesus on this crazy ride.
Psalm 9:7-10
7 But the LORD abides forever;
He has established His throne for judgment,
8 And He will judge the world in righteousness;
He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.
9 The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
A stronghold in times of trouble;
10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Continue reading about 8 months and my favorite one-year-old