I've decided to create this new blog to share some of what God has been doing in our lives... never let it be said life is boring!
The last time I was writing blog posts, we were in the middle of the most traumatic and miraculous year of our lives. Dan was having surgery after surgery (14 to be exact) to repair the extensive damage from his motorcycle accident. The hospital had become our second home and all we could do was take things day at a time. We discovered that although things happen that we aren't prepared for, God plans and purposes ALWAYS prevail. There were days we were unsure if things would ever be the same for us. Fortunately, in a lot of ways, we will never be the same. God has a way of seeing us through things that seem as though will devour us, and hopefully when all is said and done what is left in us resembles more of Christ in us {the hope of glory} than when we began.
After some 9 months of surgeries, infections, therapy, etc., God gave us a prophetic word last summer that Dan was done with surgeries and he would begin a healing season. We took hold of that and knew with every fiber of our beings that we were entering a new season. That what the enemy had meant for destruction, God was going to bring about good. The weeks and months that would follow proved to be just that.
We had hoped to add another baby to our family before Dan's accident, but thankfully God sees the BIG picture and knows what's best. One day while in the hospital, I told Dan, "I'm so glad God knows best and we're not having a baby in the midst of all this!" We chuckled with a sigh of relief... more me than him! Time would pass. Then, God awakened something in me to the thought of adopting. Adopting??!! Really? How? From where? Seriously?! I will never forget that night. I didn't sleep a wink that night with so many things running through my mind. Most of all, how Dan was going to be certain I had lost my mind! I wasn't so sure I hadn't. Over the next several days I prayed and said, "Ok, God, I need to know for sure if this is you. Something, anything that lets me know I'm not crazy!" God always brings confirmation and because He knows me so well, He would give me not one, but three separate confirmations (in case I doubted the first two)! I shared this with Dan and he agreed to pray about it. God would soon confirm it in Dan as well, as Dan was convinced life would come. Our family had gone from almost losing one, to the blessing and hope of new life. We were taken back at how clearly God was revealing this to us so there would leave no room for doubt. We felt God saying you will have another child, it's just not going to be like you thought. The kids were asked to take time and pray about it. They gave their full support and so this new journey began. God is so good because He doesn't give us everything we need to know at once because it would be too much, so he gives us what we need to know as we need to know it. We wouldn't know everything we were supposed to do, but He had told us this much, "adopt", "girl", and "China". In the weeks to come we would discover that China's program was the only one we would qualify for because of the number of children we already had. Again, confirmation.
The adoption process is not for the faint of heart. The enemy has been relentless, trying to throw things off track at every turn. Even going so far, as our car being broken into at a training event last spring. My bag with ALL of our paperwork was stolen along with all of our belongings. We would have to complete and gather it all again. Two days before that, a call came saying we would be denied approval because of some of Dan's medical history regarding the accident. All we knew to do was pray because we knew God had led us in this and so doors somehow would have to open. Ten minutes later a call came from the China Team and, yes, we could proceed.
Honestly, about this time last summer I thought I'd been stretched all I wanted and planned on 'taking it easy' so to speak. If we're fully trusting in God, though, we're always letting Him mold us and shape us so that His purposes are accomplished through us. So here we sit almost a year into a 'new' journey ready and waiting to be matched with a baby girl somewhere in China needing a forever family. We pray for her every day and Logan calls her his China doll. We don't know everything, we just know God said "step out in faith" and obedience is what we're called to. The rest is up to Him. Much is still unknown so we trust.
Scripture says we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. We are convinced there's no other way to walk. I urge you to step out in faith when He calls you to something. It's not without growth and stretching, but worth more than we can imagine when His purpose is fulfilled. When all is said and done, that's really all that counts ...
Jenni
