Trust . . .

I absolutely love this picture.  It is such a picture of how I want my walk of faith to be.  I want my heavenly father to be totally in charge.  I want to throw my head back in total abandon and just hang on, never questioning if He will let go.  Along for the ride, not afraid, completely depending on Him.  That's how Lily is when it comes to her daddy.  The trust she has in her daddy is complete.  It would never even occur to her that something bad could happen - that she could fall, that her daddy would trip, that he would drop her.  He is strong and she believes in him.  He will take care of her because he is her daddy.

How much more so can I trust my heavenly father?  Don't get me wrong, Jason is the best.  I've often told people when I describe our meeting and falling in love that he was one of the godliest men I had ever met.  He still is.  He loves the Lord with his whole heart and is devoted to being a follower of Christ.  He is an amazing husband and father and I can't say enough good things about him.  I am so blessed that God allowed me to be his wife.

Even though Jason is all that, our heavenly Father is more.  Yet why do I have such a hard time throwing my head back and holding on to Him as he leads our family each and every day?  This time is one of the most exciting we have ever been through.  He is guiding us every step of the way and meeting our every need.

Maybe this is why He tells us to have the faith of a child.   Lily has no idea of the unknown possibilities.  All she knows is that he will hold on to her.  Maybe the secret is to think like her - never dwelling on the possibilities of heartbreak or disappointment - just hanging on and trusting completely.

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind.  God is moving and we see him performing miracles in our adoption process.   Please continue to pray for us.  Please pray we will continue to seek His wisdom and guidance.  Please pray for our children, both Lily and the precious one God has created for our family that we haven't met yet.  Please pray for our continued faith and commitment to this journey.  Please pray for the others involved that will effect the timing in which we move forward.  Please join us in praising God now for the ways He will continue to meet our needs in the future.  Please pray for other families that are involved in their own adoption process.

As soon as we have official news we will post.  Thank you for reading, and thank you for praying.

Miles to go before we sleep . . .

I have thought about posting this blog for months - maybe even a couple of years.  It doesn't seem to fit that we should still update the Caringbridge site, Tucker's been gone for over 3 years.  Of course, as we have learned over the past 3 years, life does go on for the rest of the world, and like it or not ours has as well.  The past three years have been full of ups and downs, happy and sad times, times that seem like we are "normal" and times that seem like the devastation of losing our first born just happened.
We still miss Tucker every single day.  I don't think that will ever stop.

But as I said, life goes on and the work that God has for us goes on as well.  As per usual for our family, God has been working out a very special plan for us.  I have no doubt that before time began God knew that in August of 2012 we would be working toward adopting a child from China.  For all adoptive families, the process is long and hard.  It has been the same for us.  We felt God's call to adoption around Christmas of 2010.  For us, it's not a call to have another baby.  It's not a call to expand our family.  It's not a call to save an orphan.  For our family, it is a call to obedience.  This is something that God has asked of our family and we are choosing to answer His call.  It just so happens that this call will bring the unbelievable blessing and joy of another child.

God has already been teaching us so much over the past 2 years.  We are constantly reminded of His perfect timing and plan.  Again, this is not a quick process.  There is paperwork, and paperwork, and paperwork!  There are other forms to fill out and interviews to go through, emails, and phone calls.  Most of all there is waiting, and waiting, and more waiting.  Please pray for us as we continue to wait.