The Land of Hand

We expect to be traveling to get him in late August or early September but boy do we wish it could be now!  We have been praying for him for a year and can’t wait to meet him face to face.  He is healthy and his special need is reproductive in nature but so far we have seen no reason why he won’t mature normally and with surgical help be able to have children of his own one day. 

We chose the name, ‘Joseph’ because in Hebrew it means, ‘God will increase’ and that is our prayer for him.  We feel that he is already part of our family and Joshua is so excited about having a little brother to play with.  He says he will show him around the house and teach him how to do things!

I am in the process of starting the travel Journal on the site for our trip to get Joseph so look here for more information and news.  Thanks for thinking and praying for us and we are truly blessed to have you in our lives!

 If you have not heard, we are in the process to adopt another child.  We will add another family member, with a "J" name of course, hopefully sometime early Fall.  We will post more details as we get to each step in the process.  Our home study is finished and we are near completion of our dossier.  Until we are cleared to release more information about that, I will give a summary of our most memorable happenings of the past year.

Summer 2009
Summer vacation begins and so does our Home Study.
Vacation Bible School
Eye surgery for Josh
Preparing for Josh to be in Julie’s Kindergarten Class at school

Fall 2009
School begins – Both Josh and Mom find their groove in the classroom together
Letter of Intent to Adopt sent and Pre-approval received!
Josh plays soccer
Lots of sickness for all of us
Sinus surgery with days of complications for Jason

Winter 2009-2010
Josh gets glasses
Wonderful Christmas season
Home Study finished and approved
A couple of good snow days
Hand surgery for Josh
Decision made to home school Josh next year for 1st grade and stay home with our new addition to help him adjust to life with us.

Spring 2010
We had our annual week of celebration during Spring Break, with Easter and birthday parties for all 3 of us.
Josh turns 6!
Preparing for Kindergarten graduation and looking at Home School curriculum

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.