Our Story: Time is a funny thing. Sometimes we find ourselves reveling in a moment, wanting time to stand still. When we are at the beach and we can look around and everyone is happily playing, life is good; we are able to breathe that big sigh of relief and enjoy the peace and reflect. Or, when we are sending our eight year old off to third grade, we want time to stand still so we can remember the first time cradling him in our arms. Then there are other days, days when we find ourselves counting down the hours until bedtime or waiting impatiently for the sound of the garage door, indicating Logan is home for dinner. Because in all honesty, we all have those days. Counting down or slowing down time. Thankfully, we can do neither. God's timing is everything. Time and time again, His faithful and perfect timing is better than ours.
At Just the right time, we were called to Cornerstone Community Church, opening our eyes wider and our hearts more to so many children who yearn for a family, seeing what a difference loving parents make in a child's life. At just the right time, God blessed our family with our three sons, even if one was in the middle of tax season. God is funny like that. At just the right time, God wrote our adoption story with Selah, providing for EVERY expense and detail of our journey. Even when we wanted to speed up time and get to Selah, God placed us in China at the right time, the same time as some of the sweetest people we know, people who have become life- long friends. At just the right time (to the day), Logan graduated from Seminary and started a new job as the Interim Pastor at our church. Sometimes, we want to plan things, thinking we have the ideal timetable, but we have learned (slowly) over the years that His timing is better than any schedule we could imagine.
So, we thought this is where we would rest. We would focus on the new job and figure out what is next for our family. That in itself is a big deal, peace in the waiting period. Yet, God has a way of opening our hearts to more, when we pause. This is why we named our daughter Selah. Although the meaning of her name is a bit of a mystery, most people believe it means "pausing to reflect." It is that moment on the beach, or that cuddle time on the couch, or those sweet kisses goodnight, or our kids singing in church (or playing air guitar). It is when our little Jude declares, "Jesus is sitting on my lap," and Selah responds, "Jesus is in my heart." It's also in those hard moments when we are at our wits’ end and it seems that we have a house governed by toddlers. Even in those moments, if we just, "pause," take the time to reflect, we are reminded of how faithful our Heavenly Father is. At just the right time, He chose to adopt us, amidst our kicking and screaming.
It is in this "pause" that we heard God’s call to adopt again. We knew it didn't fit into our ideal timeline. We didn't know how we could even pay for another adoption. In all honesty, we are a little overwhelmed at the thought of parenting five kids! Yet…as we pause…as we reflect on the length that God went to adopt us as His children, sending His Son to die on a cross for us, our insecurities, doubts, and fears dwindle. God listened to the yearning in our family’s heart for the opportunity to adopt a little sister, a daughter, our precious girl. Well, God has opened the doors and we are pursuing another international adoption!
Current update: Our immigration paperwork is being reviewed. We had our fingerprints taken and are just waiting on our approval letter to get to the next step. All of Dossier paperwork (information that we send to China) is done just waiting on this approval. We are filling out grant paperwork non- top and have started fundraising. Things are moving!
We know it is going to take a village to bring our girl home and we thank you for joining our village. Please be praying for our girl. Pray for her heart, that she is loved-on daily, that she can run and play with other children, that she is cuddled and fed, not only physically, but emotionally. Pray for our paperwork to fly (literally) off the desk, for officials to approve it quickly as it travels across the ocean. Pray for us for endurance and patience as we fill out paperwork into the wee hours of the night. We are thankful for you and your willingness to join us in this journey. We cannot do this alone.
