Coming to you from PA

Surprise!  A week ago, someone generously offered to fly me home so that I could see Mariana in a performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie.  The Good Doctor and I weighed not only the financial piece which would be taken care of, but the days away from Victor and the logistics of a quick trip home.  After praying about it and discussing it, here I am!

We arranged for Mariana to spend the night with a friend so she wouldn't know that the Good Doctor went to the airport to pick me up.  At home, only Andrew knew what was happening.  I got home early this morning, tried to catch a little sleep, surprised all the kids as they woke up, and headed off to church where I kept myself hidden away until the big reveal.

The plan was to Skype me into the service this morning, to talk about how the church has surrounded us during our journey.  I wasn't really into this idea anyway but the Good Doctor was all for it.  Instead,  there I was!  Surprise!

And I shared something like this:

Many times, as I’ve experienced the ups and downs of life, I’ve asked myself, “How does someone do this without God?” 

And then I ask myself another question, “How does one do this without a faith family?”

In our most recent adoption journey, our faith family has been so important.  Even before deciding to say yes to Victor, we had several prayer partners praying for us.  John and I each have a prayer team and many of the team members are from here at McBIC.  We shared with them the situation, our fears, and our concerns, and we set them free to pray.  The answers that came back, both in visions and in words, led to the confirmation that Victor was our son. 

Once we said yes and made the big announcement, we were inundated with offers of help.  So we started by enlisting a member of McBIC to set up a website to organize our needs.  Within a few hours, the sign up list was filled.  And then people asked for more needs.  And more.  And people started to offer to fill needs we didn’t even know we had.

So John and I would like to officially thank our faith family here and elsewhere for being the body of Christ to us, each one using his or her gifts to bless our family and to help bring Victor home.  I’m going to try to list all of the ways people have helped and I know that I’m going to forget something, please don’t think that your service was not appreciated or important – because it was and is!

Taxi service to the airport

Meals, meals, and more meals

Doing your pastor’s laundry

Cleaning up a motherless house

Making a 15 year old’s birthday special when her mother wasn’t home

Transporting kids here and there

Helping in numerous adoption fundraising endeavors

Childcare

Dog sitting

Teaching our homeschooled kids

Sorting socks

Doing dishes

Sending encouraging notes to us

Sending me care packages

Getting the little kids ready on Sunday morning while John is at church

Helping to keep life as normal as possible

Giving us Bible verses, songs, and words of encouragement as God nudges you to share

Paying for plane tickets, including the tickets that provided my surprise appearance here, and gave me the opportunity to see Mariana star in a musical this afternoon

Praying!  Please keep praying!

We have been blessed in so many ways!  I wouldn’t want to travel this road of life without God or without my faith family, a family that knows that each member is valuable and it is important that we share our unique gifts with others.  You have done that for us.

But I’m still waiting for someone to volunteer to return to Utah with me to get the spider off of my ceiling!

Big Little Man is now 2 lbs. 8 oz.  Big enough for clothes!  

Keep praying for feeding, and growing, and breathing.  

Pray for me.  God is good.  And Victor is good.  But this leaving is hard.  So hard.  I cry when I leave one and I cry when I leave 8.  It was good to be home, if even for a short time, but I'm ready to see my little guy wearing his big boy clothes!