Merry Christmas! Last year we wrote at Christmas about how God was teaching us to better understand the theology of adoption. As you will remember, at this time last year we were on the waitlist to adopt a child from Ethiopia.
This year, our daughter is home! This year, God has shown us mercy, healing and redemption. In March we got “the call” for a beautiful nine week old baby girl. We had thought all along we would probably be matched with a boy because we had always been closer on the boy waitlist, but God had a different plan. On March 9 we discovered that we were #1 on both the girl and boy waitlist. God DOES have a sense a humor, and also wanted us to know that He is ultimately in control. It was a joyous shock on March 10th when our agency called and said “there is a little girl I would like to talk to you about.” We always knew that call would change our lives, but we never knew just how much. Suddenly, we had hope. We had a daughter.
What followed can only be described as the longest, hardest, best, most joyful year of our lives. It has been a year filled with heartache and grief, blessings and indescribable joy. In May we flew to Ethiopia for our court appointment and to meet Aerin for the first time. It was a sweet time, but at the end of the week we had to leave our daughter in Ethiopia and fly back to the U.S. to wait on the U.S. Embassy to approve our adoption. It was the longest six weeks of our lives as we awaited our approval. Finally on July 21st we received our approval and our dates that we could go get our daughter. On July 30th we boarded a plane to become parents.
Our first five months home with our daughter have been a blast! She has gone from rolling around to talking and walking. She is bursting with personality and a strong will. She is the most passionately happy person we’ve ever known. She loves her Daddy and dogs. Bryan is still teaching English and coaching basketball at Mansfield High School. Amory is still working at the bank. We’ve both had an interesting time trying to balance work and being good parents, but we’re figuring it out. We’re so blessed to have friends and family that have helped make the transition a little easier for us.
“Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act” (Proverbs 24:12). This verse is fitting for the year we’ve had. We’ve seen toddlers, yes, toddlers fighting for survival on dirty third-world streets. We’ve seen an infant experience terror and grief. God has opened our eyes to this fallen world. Yet, in the midst of that we have witnessed healing that only God’s perfect plan can bring. We have seen children whose eyes were once dull become bright and full of life. We have had the privilege of witnessing redemption. That is what Christmas is about to us this year. Not the presents or tinsel and tidings. The fact that God sent his perfect, sinless Son to be adopted and raised by a sinful man so that He, Jesus Christ, could redeem this fallen, broken world, is what speaks to us this Christmas. Join us this year in celebrating the healing power of God’s redeeming love.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; while fields and floods, rocks hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found.
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