It's a privilege as the blogger's mama to be asked to write a guest post! Grace asked me to do this at least 4 months ago. She's a patient girl. We're so thankful she took over this blog because you'd never see pictures of these kids, all growing like (beautiful) weeds, if it were left up to me!
First of all, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all of you who have encouraged us by e-mailing, calling, writing a note or letter, made a donation, bought a necklace or tote bag, and/or simply asked us how our adoption is going! More than that, we are grateful for your prayers throughout this adoption journey! "(We) have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in (our) prayers." Ephesians 1:17 Honestly, this should really be Adoption Update #10 because God has done so incredibly much in our hearts & lives since last April. But, to sum it all up....He is FAITHFUL. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and we give Him ALL the thanksgiving, praise, and glory for His Hand in every single detail. It's only because of Him, the One who sets the lonely in families (Psalm 68:6), that we are adopting this precious child. Trust me, no one could be more surprised than us that we are adopting at all and particularly from China! However, it's no surprise to our loving Father who has planned for Jude to be a part of this (crazy) family since before any one of us came into existence. "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16 Truly a miracle, only He can do!
So, some of you prayed for us recently regarding an important letter, and the update is that yes, about two weeks ago, we received our clearance letter from the one and only USCIS
(United States Citizenship & Immigration Service) saying that we
are approved to adopt 1 child from China. (Too bad it's not 5. Just kidding!) This is one of many approvals, important documents, letters, etc. However, this was a BIG one! This very important piece of paper will join the rest of our
very important pieces of papers that have become quite a stack for the last 6 months and it will complete
our "Dossier." Once this clearance gets through the Chinese Embassy (hopefully this week), our stack of "gold" will head to China. It's like gold to us, anyway! If you have adopted, you
totally understand this crazy language that I speak. We are praying that the nice Chinese folks receive our dossier by
October 22nd when our pre-approval for Jude expires, however, we are not worried in the slightest. For with God nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37 God's faithfulness doesn't end. Ever. He's got all the logistics and details worked out in His perfect timing, whether or not our paperwork is logged in by that date. He enables us to walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 If we have to file for an extension, He's got that covered too. (I'm just sure He knows how much I detest paperwork, though!)
As the months go by and we wait in expectation, God only draws us closer to Him through it. As some of you already know, the Lord has blessed us with a new friend, Michael, who has taken several videos of Jude on his visits to China. He sent us the latest video he took of Jude in early August. Up until now, I thought ultrasound videos were exciting. What a treasure it is to have several videos of our "baby" smiling, running, laughing, and talking. We laugh happy tears every time and this time I took a picture of the kids, grinned faced, as they watched their new little brother trying to say, "I love you" in English. Ben and I felt as though our hearts might just about burst with love for this little Chinese cutie pie. It also felt very humbling. Who are we?....called by Almighty God to be the parents of this beautiful child of His or any of these amazing children of His, running around in this little house??? But, as Jacob answered his brother Esau after years of separation, "These are the children God has graciously given your servant." Genesis 33:5 We mess up plenty, just ask our kids. Yet in His gentle voice, the Lord reminded me of how He feels about us, "To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy-to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen!" Jude 24-25
Later, I couldn't help but think of how the Father looks at
each one of us here on this spinning globe....loving every
person more than we could ever fathom or imagine & desperately desiring
for each one of us to come Home and be a part of His forever family. "He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will." Ephesians 1:5 We're so loved, in fact, that He sacrificed His only Son to suffer & die for every broken and orphaned one of us. His arms opened wide, there on that cross....waiting & waiting patiently for you and for me to come to Him and be received by the only Arms of grace (John 3:16) & mercy that make us New. Forgiven. Whole. Loved. Accepted. Safe. Cherished. Set free. Redeemed. And given, life eternal. Oh, and it's all free (no paperwork)! All He asks is that we believe that He died for our sin, rose from the grave, and give Him our hearts to receive His unconditional, endless, perfect love. A love that no other can ever give us. However, it's our choice to decide whether or not we're going to accept this amazing Grace. How can we do anything but say, "Yes," to our Abba Father who passionately desires to call us His own? And, last Sunday at church, He reminded me that He's waiting for those of us who have perhaps strayed at times, and left our First-Love, Jesus.
(Luke 15:11-31) We've chosen our own path, which in the end, always turns out to be empty (I speak from a great deal of personal experience on this!), but He's still right there, arms open wide, beckoning us to return home.
"'Return to Me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you.'" Zechariah 1:3 My mind will never be able to completely grasp this kind of grace. This kind of relentless love. All we can we do is thank Him, praise Him, and give our hearts, our lives to Him.
"We love Him because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19
So, that's the update and more from my heart. Thanks for reading. Now you can see why Grace is the blogger! Much love to all of you in Christ Jesus, our Savior and our Hope~Joanna
