Its 6 months today that we arrived back home from China, very-very early in the morning with Hadley. We had what turned out to be an amazing faith filled journey with so many unexpected twists and turns that landed us at just the perfect time and place... Nanchang, Jiangxi China. Looking back at the pictures from our days in China, I feel like it was years ago in some ways. It feels even further away when I look at our precious daughter now! She's filled with JOY and laughter all of the time, even as she tells me..."no-no-no" shaking her head, with the cutest big smile :) So, very different than that short 6 months ago when she was so very sick, weak, could not sit up unassisted and in desperate need of medical care and her family. 6 months later she's a different little girl. We still have challenges to work through but don't we all face that? Isn't that just a part of the Christian journey and not isolated to adoption? Doesn't it have alot to do with how we cross those bridges and how we chose to view them? TODAY everything is new for Hadley, its exciting and fun. She is filled with life and energy! There are so many things that she enjoys...She has thoroughly enjoyed the snow and the outdoors, even when I'd prefer to stay inside toasty warm. She loves story time at the library and the toddler dance parties they have there. She loves to blow kisses and put bows in her hair. She loves the song, "head shoulders knees and toes" and always wants me to play it again and again. She runs to the door with her brother yelling, "da-da, da-da" when we hear him pull in the driveway. She has adored her brother from the very day she met him. Which reminds me of an instance just two days ago when he was feeling very sick...He's not one to fuss and on this day he kept crying and crying as we tried to console him. Hadley kept bringing him toy after toy and handed him one after another in hopes of cheering her brother up. You could see the tenderness she has for him.
So I started out posting to celebrate her 6 months home with us even though it feels as though she has always been with us. I realized as I got half way into it that I could go on and on and on with little chance that I'd stop sharing all of the blessing Hadley has brought to our family. I remember at one point, early on in the adoption process, of bringing home our second child that I prayed God would point us to the child meant for our family. That sounds so funny to me now because...It wasn't until much later that I realized that not only did God sovereignly place our little girl in our arms but equally as important, we were the precise family that she needed as well. I don't say that in the sense that we are, "the perfect family" but there is something about us that she needed and needs and so we were chosen for her and her for us. The responsibility in that still blows me away! Brandon and I talk about how fortunate we are to have been given the gift of parenting our two little ones. Had you told me 6 years ago our lives would look the way they do today...I would have stopped you in your tracks and said, "I highly doubt it!" Boy am I glad that I'm not responsible for writing the story of our lives because we would have missed out on joy unspeakable! Yet another reminder of how amazing the God we serve is!
1 Peter 1:8-9
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
November 2010
Precious and perfect!
Me and my brother
Loving kissies for my brother
Look at us!!! REALLY....Does life get any better than snow, mom?!
This is the life!!! (January 2011)
Hugs,
Robin
