Five years ago our family looked much different. Somewhat stressed after a year of medical trials and multiple surgeries, but thankful for a successful lengthening of Jackson's femur. Thankful for our church community, family and friends that held us together during the hard. Thankful for our access to cutting edge medical procedures that take life altering congenital diagnosis and make them manageable nuances. We thought it was the end of our trials.....we later would learn it was only the beginning.
At the same time......Five years ago in a large orphanage in China sat a little girl with a broken little heart dying. Her lips purple, her fingertips curled over from lack of oxygen. She was losing her fight to untreated congenital heart disease....
"Tessa" (about 1 year)
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| "Tessa" (about 18 months) |
But someone had fallen in love and God planted it in her heart to fight for this little girl. Aunt Katie, (holding her in the black and white photo above) had already started into process a massive fundraiser to save this purple princess. Love without Boundaries partnered with her fundraising efforts and Tessa (later Selah) would have her first heart surgery at 21 months old. A living miracle to survive without cardiac intervention for that long! A few months later....our family would be called to adoption and this little girl's file would now be prepared. Never would we have thought HEART kiddos would be our calling, but again, "Seek HIS will". Side note....We thought orthopedic would be easier :) We had experience in that!
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| "Tessa" (about 2 years) |
Speaking of ortho needs.... This picture is from a video we received of Huahua......Do you recognize a little boy in the background? That's James!
I could go on and on about the blessings and miracles.....writing this is good for me to remember how fortunate we are. God has been in the details, weaving things together, even when we feel so alone. Large families are different...Maybe distinguished is a better word.... Maybe just plain determined for many reasons! Determined to fight for injustices, share the good things and spread a little love. But sometimes that means not fitting in, by all means, our mini bus does NOT fit in! Like the movie Wonder says "why fit in, when you were made to stand out?"
Fast forward five years......
Our house exploded! Mostly with boys and one more sweet girl.
The first three have grown and matured in ways that could have never happened had we not (i mean) had God not chosen this path for our family.
Most days are chaos, trying to find the other glove or shoe, getting the right shirt, pants, hat on the right child, shifting through poop to find the coin someone swallowed, getting the toddler down from....WHERE?!?!?!?! But we need to step back and see the big picture. We have so much to be thankful for among the chaos filled days. How were we chosen to be these children's parents and forever family?
This season has been rough, with challenging behavior, medical appointments/testing, and family stress. We will not focus on the day to day rough moments, rather step back and be thankful for the wholeness of our family. For I know across an ocean there are parents who ultimately gave their hearts away the moment they sat their sweet babes on a cold, dark, sidewalk.....and walked away....simply in hope of saving their children. So in those moments of rough, our Hope needs to fall on the one who gives us the ultimate Hope in time of need.
Recently I had a good friend remind me our blessings, as we shared in our celebration of Wen Xiang's third birthday. This friend has been one of the greatest examples living faith during trials.
We never know how God is going to use us or what he is going to ask of us. This year has been extra special, as this friend and her family has finally welcomed home her son after waiting 4 long years. Yes she has watched, and faithfully walked with us, as we have brought home four children---all while her son was waiting red tape to be cleared. We sing praises together!!! And some good backyard football! It's been magical to see God working the blending of them together!
JORDAN JACOB WEN XIANG
JUSTIN JESSICA
JOSEPH
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| JAMES |
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| JACKSON |
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| NINE!!!! Can it really be? |
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| Jackson tearing it up! |
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| Joseph is officially six and working his way into the construction industry! |
Nine years old. WOW!!!
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| Justin taking a few laps in the back yard. On the bike equals his happy place! |
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| Jessica (Tessa five years later) |
Thankful we said yes.... and followed the path of HIS WILL..... thankful for what our growing family & adoption teaches us about ourselves and the faithfulness of our GOD.
