joy

wow. i am humbled. amazed at the outpouring of support for our adoption. amazed at the love people have shown us and sarahjoy. i can't quite get my arms wrapped around it. one minute i am silently shocked. the next i don't even stop to notice because it has become so normal. someone handing me a check. slipping an envelope into my hand. it happens almost weekly and from the unlikeliest of people.

i never want to get used to it. never. people are giving their hard-earned money to our baby girl! i had one young boy give me money that he had earned from his report card and some chores. we have a son the same age and i know what it means to hand over your cash! what a precious gift and a reminder to me that God is providing! through the most unlikely of means. but every dollar that is handed to us reminds me that God is listening. that he is watching. and he is fulfilling his promise to both us and sarahjoy - that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

it is amazing to me. i can only hope and pray that they would be blessed. that somehow i can convey in an earthly way their blessing to our family and that God would bring them a heavenly joy because of their generosity. and that maybe, God can use our story to further his heart for the orphan. not everyone is called to adopt. but everyone is called to care for the fatherless.

for the record, God has provided - through the generosity of his people - financial gifts over and above what we could have ever imagined.
$1000 (K)
$2000 (Z)
$10,000 (P)
$2000 (C)
$500 (G)
$50 (L)
$50 (H)
$25 (H)
$300 (J)
$500 (A)
$250 (D)
$250 (C)
$11.40 (K)

a total of $16,936.40. that's over 50% of our adoption expenses! of course, the temptation even now is to see the 50% that isn't there. or the strain we are feeling in our daily financial life apart from adoption. but please, please God don't let me go there! don't let me cover your radiance with the black cloud of doubt and fear. every time we encounter a medical bill, a school bill, something 'out of the ordinary' and beyond our budget, it is a reminder to me of God's voice saying loud and clear,

"I am going to make this adoption happen. YOU are going to sit and watch. it is not going to be from your efforts. it is going to be ME, bringing myself glory. announcing to the world that I am the lover of orphans. that I long to create families. and that I will provide."

we continue to pray that God would send us to china debt free. that our adoption would be 100% paid for. what a testimony to the miraculous. what a story to encourage others - that you CAN adopt and you CAN be a part of the miracle of adoption. that it IS what God wants us all to be a part of, whatever that looks like for our own families.

sarah means 'princess'.
joy means, well, 'joy'.

i dream of our princess. bringing joy to our family, to those around us, and specifically to those who have become a part of her history by sacrificing to bring her home.

to those who have been a part of this journey thus far, thank you. may you experience the joy of God's blessing.