Overjoyed

April 6^th, 2013

The first week of April has completely left me feeling overjoyed and truly thankful for many reasons.  Four days ago I received an email from Bethany Christian saying that we are officially starting the process of our HOMESTUDY!!! Whoohoo!! PRAISE GOD!!  Luke and I were so excited to get this email and so thankful the Lord has opened doors for us to make it this far in the adoption process!  So now that we are “Officially” in the Homestudy process the REAL heavy duty paperwork begins… J The email that we received from Bethany Christian included the ongoing list of papers we needed to fill out. Luke and I knew this pile of paper work was coming and were ready to dig right in and put our game faces on!! We already started working on it a couple days ago, which was so exciting! I kept on wanting to work on stuff and drop everything else in our lives and devote our time and effort into adoption; however, I knew that was unrealistic and not feasible at least for Luke and I! J So right now I am trying to take it one step at a time and not get too excited. It is very easy for me to rush things to get things done and accomplished when something mean so much to me. I continually have to lift every little detail to the Lord and know everything will eventually get done in time as we continually seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance through every little detail. Honestly, this is why this journey is soo unimaginably amazing because Luke and I are continually being stretched by the Lord and challenged to seek the Lord for strength and guidance through this journey. We know this journey is very unclear and unknown to us, and that makes us very vulnerable and weak in these situations. This is why we are solely depending on the Lord and continually trusting in Him and His sovereignty!

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”    2 Corinthians 12:9

Lastly in our email, Bethany Christian shared with us that our adoption specialist will be calling soon!! She is a MAJOR deal and very important in the whole Homestudy process because she will be with us through the whole process till we get our baby! It was very exciting news to hear, but also hard to wait and see what she was like, whether or not we would have a good connection and get along with one another. Again, we have been committing this to prayer and trusting in God’s perfect plan for our family!

Today I feel so honored that the Lord has called Luke and I into this journey of adoption. Even though we never imagined being here, we are so thankful for being a part of the gift of adoption. God has already completely blessed us beyond what we ever imagined and we praise God for that and give Him all the glory! God is really softening our hearts to adoption and a love for this whole process already. I know my love for this precious child is growing now than ever before. It is amazing how the Lord can truly work in your heart and grow a love for someone who probably isn’t even born yet; or even yet, before the birth mom knows that she will bear a child. That is such a God thing!! This journey is soo much bigger and amazing than I could ever imagine thinking about and it truly brings tears to my eyes knowing that God already knows who our child will be and has chosen this perfect, beautiful child for our family! We are beyond blessed with the amount of support we have received from both of our parents and family, our friends, our co-workers, our church body and our pastors!! What a blessing it is to have so much love, support, and prayers for this adoption journey!!! PRAISE GOD!!! We are truly thankful for each one of you!! We have started praying for the birthmother even though we do not know her yet. God has much bigger plans, far greater than I could ever imagine! As Luke and I strive towards humbly submitting ourselves to the Lord’s will for our family, we look forward to seeing His amazing and perfect plan for our family unfold!!

“Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!”   Psalm 107:21-22