Recounting God's Faithfulness

( WARNING: This is a long post! :) I guess my "writing sub conscience" was not pleased with the fact that I never got out a Christmas lettter...hopefully, this will make up for it!:) )

"My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9

Yesterday, Bryan and I were looking back on this past year with amazement. Amazement, not in our own capabilities, but in an all sovereign, all powerful God who has carried us through some pretty big life changes.

A year ago, this month, we were needing over $20,000 to complete our adoption; all the while facing the uncertainty of whether God's plan truly did include Samuel and Caleb or if He had other children planned for us before the foundation of the world, though the thought made our hearts ache a little.

My Gramps died in March and life and death was brought close to home...and the pain of death was so very real.

In April, God gave us the sweet blessing of hosting my grandparents, aunt and uncles, parents and some siblings at our house to celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday! It was a full house and it was with full hearts that we celebrated and rejoiced to be together!

In May, I ended up having my appendix removed while visiting my parents and at the end of that month we were told we by our agency that we would not be adopting Samuel and Caleb.

June rolled around with the celebration of Titus' birthday and an amazing and completely unexpected (but not to God!) phone call that we will never forget...we really did have two sons waiting for us in Ethiopia and their names were, indeed, Samuel and Caleb. Following that elating news was Bryan's knee surgery that brought a lot of pain and discomfort and changed his life for a season.

Of course,maybe it did not help that we had to get on a plane the middle of July for a very long trip to Ethiopia.:) But our joy was full and our excitement was so very real! We were going to get our boys! The range of emotions we both felt that week was so intense and broad and our adoption by God into HIS family has become more striking each day as we experience the ins and outs of our earthly adoption.

All that we read about adoption said to take it VERY easy and slow the first 6 months to 1 year. To not introduce too much "different" since everything would be so different for them already. Doing so could make life almost unbearable for everyone involved. :) I smile, because, since their arrival, God has taken us through everything you are NOT supposed to do the first 6 months...and we testify to the truth that what God calls you to do, He gives you the grace to go through it. Not that it becomes easy, but His power truly is perfected in weakness...that way, He alone gets the praise!!!

Faith had her tonsils and adenoids out in August and Caleb followed up with a surgery of his own in October. October was also the month our first son, Garett, would have been 10 years old and it was a sweet month to remember that, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised,"(Job 1:21b) as we also finalized our adoption of the boys at the courthouse! In November we made a trip up to Canada to visit and then turned around the next week and made an even bigger trip all the way to New York to visit Bryan's family. Our tickets had been graciously provided for us and we were so thankful for the time back east...and for the new memories we made as a family of 8.

December brought a time of transition. Bryan finished serving at SVC the middle of the month and we could only watch and wait to see what the Lord had in store. We spent Christmas with my family and enjoyed the sweet fellowship of a shared love and passion for Jesus above all things!

January is not only the first month of the year but it was a month that began a lot of "firsts" in our lives. January was the month the Lord called us to Canada!!! Sunday the 17th was our final full day in Canada before we headed home to wait for news about the outcome of the vote. 6 months before that, to the day, we arrived home from Ethiopia and our family of 6 was a brand new 8. We could have never imagined on that day where the Lord would lead only a half a year later...but our whole beings rejoice in what God has done!!!!

As a family we have learned much, been humbled much, cried much, been in pain much, rejoiced much, and given thanks much. But, most of all, we look back in awe over what God has done. There were many things that we had planned but it was the Lord's purpose that prevailed (Prov 19:21) and we joyfully concur that He has done great things! I love how Jerry Bridges puts it:

"God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about."

"No plan of God's can be thwarted; when He acts, no one can reverse it; no one can hold back His hand or bring Him to account for His actions. God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and works out every event to bring about the accomplishment of His will. Such a bare unqualified statement of the sovereignty of God would terrify us if that were all we knew about God. But God is not only sovereign, He is perfect in love and infinite in wisdom."

"O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure." Isaiah 25:1