We had a wonderful Easter weekend. After a morning of praise and worship, we enjoyed a great meal and egg hunt at Julie’s Mom’s house. The weather was perfect and the whole family was able to be there. We were just coming off of Hand family birthday week/Spring break. I will post soon about the birthday’s but I wanted to put up a quick post to begin to catch up on our events and to try out a new photo sharing site we may be switching to.
On Valentine’s Day, our family received a very special gift…. Joshua made the decision to ask Jesus to be his Savior!!
I will give some background about how he came to this decision.
First, before we even met him we were, along with many of you, praying for him. We prayed for his protection and health, we prayed that he would not fear us and that God would give him comfort and peace during his transition to our family. God answered those prayers, as Joshua has adjusted far better than we had hoped for and has been so healthy. A very dear friend threw a shower for me just a few weeks before we left for China. As a party favor, she had key chains with Joshua’s referral photo on them and prayer requests for Joshua on the back. One of them was "That he will quickly come to Jesus as his Lord and Savior". Now when you consider that his entire life was changed, surroundings, caregivers, and language, and that he is just nearly 5 years old, I would consider 18 months to be QUICKLY! Prayer answered! Praise God! Thank you to our family and friends that joined us in praying for Joshua. I hope that you will celebrate this decision with us!
Another factor that led him to this decision, is his wonderful preschool teacher. She is so caring and compassionate and her love for our Savior is very evident. Joshua loves to come home and tell us the Bible stories he learns at school or at church. (His Sunday School teachers are also wonderful servants of God!) He has memorized several scriptures, one of them John 3:16. He loves to sing praise songs and he enjoys meal and evening prayer time. One of his favorite jobs at school is to be the prayer leader. This school year, he has seen that God is a constant companion and that Jesus is someone to be excited about.
Finally, thanks to the writer of the Vacation Bible School songs, we have been talking on and off for months, about the ABC song. The song tells about the 3 steps to becoming a Christian. A-Admit to God you are a sinner, then repent and turn away from your sin. B-Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and He gave His life for you and me. C-Confess your faith in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. Joshua has asked some heavy questions during our long commute to and from school, and that song has been the answer to several of them.
Now here is how it all comes together.
On Wednesday evenings we meet Daddy for dinner before he goes to praise team practice. Now a few weeks ago,as Daddy was saying goodbye after dinner, Joshua asked a question he already knows the answer to. "What is praise team?" (He has sat through many praise team rehearsals) I, asked him the same question in return. His answer was "A praise team is singing and instruments". I asked "What do they sing about?" His response was "God?" Then we sang a couple of praise songs. I told him that you can sing praise songs anytime. He decided that he would make up a couple of songs. One of the lyrics was "Jesus is my Savior" After singing it a few times, Joshua asked me "Is Jesus my Savior?" I reminded him of the Bible School ABC song and told him that if he prayed about the things in the song, then Jesus was his Savior. He was quiet for a while and then he started asking questions about Heaven. At the end he told me he did not want to go to Heaven. I did not make a big deal out of it, but let him know that I would be there one day, as would his Daddy, and many many family members and friends. He dropped the subject at that point and a few days passed. On Valentine’s Day we were on our way to Grandma’s for lunch when Joshua began making up his own praise songs again. After singing the lyric "Jesus is my Savior" a few times he suddenly got very quiet and I turned around to see him with his hands folded and head bowed whispering. After about a minute he looked up and asked "Mom, am I a Christian? I just asked Jesus to be my Savior, but he didn’t answer me." With laughter in my heart and tears in my eyes, I explained that we do not always hear Jesus speak to us out loud. We reviewed the ABC’s again and he told me he had told God he was a sinner and that Jesus was God’s son, and that he wanted Him to be his Savior. I happily assured him that he was a Christian and that Jesus would answer him, by helping him choose to follow God and love people as Jesus did. Then together we sang "Do Lord" "I took Jesus as my Savior you take him to!"
I do know that this is just the very first step in his walk with our Lord, and that at this young age his understanding is limited, but it is the decision that puts him on the path that leads to Eternal life.
May this Easter season renew your passion for our Savior, or if you have not done so already, may you seek Him to be your Savior.
**We would love for you to post a comment to let us know that you "stopped by". Just click the "comment" link at the top of this post to leave us a message.
Our family enjoyed many activities during the Christmas Season. Christmas programs and parties at school, cookie baking for gifts and cookie exchanges, driving to see Christmas lights, riding the Christmas train at Stone Mountain, and spending time with family and friends we had not seen in a while. Julie’s sister had a baby on Christmas eve and Joshua was very excited about having another boy cousin.
We spent Christmas day in 3 locations. First at home, where Joshua was excited to receive the “Robot Arm” that he had been asking for. He also got an electronic mini drum set, a Moon light for his room, and some new items for his wooden train set. Our next stop was to celebrate with Jason’s family. Joshua left there with nearly as many toys as he had received at home. Our final stop was to have a delicious Christmas dinner with some dear friends. They had a gift for Joshua as well. I think he was a little disappointed that there was only one. This year he was well prepared for what Christmas morning would bring. Last year we had to make him stop playing with one toy to open up the next package. This year he was tearing through them as fast as he could. He had to be reminded a few times that not every present was for him. It was a blessing to witness how much Joshua learned about the real Christmas story this year. He loved retelling it in his own words, to anyone that would listen. His facts were pretty straight, except in his version, the shepherds told Herod about the birth of baby Jesus. We celebrated Christmas with Julie’s family on Jan. 3rd, due to the new baby arriving the night before, and other family members being out of town.
Jason had a full week off to spend with us and we had some great family time at home. We started the New Year off very simply; a quiet dinner at home with sparkling Cherry Juice, which Joshua decided to call soda pop, and a normal bedtime. We spent New Year’s day teaching Joshua how to race with his Mom and Dad on the Wii Mario Kart. We had a blast!! We are all trying to get back to our normal routine as we prepare to return to work and school after 2 weeks off. We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, filled with the peace and love of Christ, and we pray that you will be blessed in 2009!
After being so slack as of late in keeping up with our Blog, I am going to give you a very quick summary of our Fall, before I post about our Christmas Fun, later this week.
Joshua is loving school and has had some fun events with his class. Mommy was able to get out of her own class to enjoy these events with him. They wrapped up their farm unit with a “Barnyard Buddies Breakfast”, complete with animal shaped waffles. The class sang a couple of songs and recited a poem. It was very cute. In Oct. The Firefighters came to visit and the class got to step inside the firetruck. Joshua was unsure at first, but enjoyed it enough, that he decided to dress as a Firefighter for the “Trunk or Treating” event at school.
We enjoyed attending a couple of Harvest Festivals with some friends and we visited the Southeastern Railway Museum. Joshua loved exploring all the old train cars and riding the short but fun “real” train ride. We took Joshua to see the Circus and although he was scared, he persevered and enjoyed the acts, that he was awake for.
At the end of September we completed the “Domestication of a Foreign Adoption” process that gives us the equivalent of a US birth certificate for Joshua. To finalize the process, we had to go before a judge and take an oath to reaffirm that we fully intended to raise Joshua as our son forever. It was a good family bonding experience, sharing with Joshua how much we love him, and choose him to be a part of our family. We did this in China, but he had only know us 24 hours and he could not understand anything that we were saying.
Joshua enjoys spending time with his family, friends, and cousins. He continues to make us laugh, challenge our patience, and bring great joy to our lives.
Enjoy the pics from our Fun Fall Festivities
A very Happy Thanksgiving to you all!