Thankful

I know it's only the first of November and Thanksgiving is weeks away, but here are some thoughts that have been on my heart lately.

I'm thankful for our church family/congregation. I'm thankful that we are surrounded by adoptive families in our church that have created a culture of people who "get it." We have been blessed with prayer, encouragement, gifts, meals, and so much more....

I'm thankful for family (grandparents, siblings, and extended family) who love Sarah and who welcomed her into our family long before she arrived home.

I'm thankful for friends who have chosen adoption as their way to build their family simply because it is the heart of our Father who asks us to care for orphans, widows, and the least of the least. You have been a role model for our family.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress... James 1:27

I'm equally thankful for our friends that have been down the path of infertility (like us) and have realized their dream of a family through the miracle of adoption. We will always have a common understanding and bond.

I'm thankful for my husband, who is not only a great husband, but also dad. I'm thankful that he trusted me that I really did hear God say "Vietnam." :-)

I'm thankful for Jesus' promise that He won't leave us as orphans (John 14:8). And, I'm grateful to God for my own (spiritual) adoption. Don't you just love how the scriptures use adoption to explain our relationship with God??

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.... Ephesians 1: 4-5

I'm grateful that God doesn't always give us what we want - sometimes we get something better!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights... James 1:17

I'm thankful for a woman in Vietnam who first of all chose life, and then chose to make the sacrifice to give a baby girl what she thought would be a better one. We will do our very best to honor her by the way we raise Sarah.

I'm thankful for our precious daughter, who lights up a room, who wants a million kisses a day, who won't let me put her down hardly long enough to get anything accomplished in the house, who won't fall asleep unless I sing to her (and I don't sing well).....

I'm thankful for all our blog readers who have been so sweet. Who knew we would have so many? I hope that we are always a witness to God's faithfulness and the awesomeness (is that a word?) of adoption. Maybe God will use you to touch the life of a child.....