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Psalm 139:13-16

For you formed my innermost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know it full well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

This is one of those verses I have slowly soaked in throughout the past 20 years, and I am still sometimes stunned by the truths inside of it.  It constantly reminds me that God does not make mistakes.  It is one of those verses our little Ladybug and I say every time I do her hair in the mirror (just as much for my sake as hers).  She was made incredible!  Her medical needs and personal struggles were no mistake on our Maker's part.  She was made perfectly.  God knew that in this fallen world, she would face unbelievable hardships and created her strategically to withstand those hardships.  Because of the way God knit her together, she won't be broken by her journey, but will be made even stronger by it.  Man, even just the story of the first few years of her life sing of the glories and mercy of God!

That being said, when I was trying to think of a verse that describes God's heart for adoption that speaks to me the most to kick off this blog, I kept coming back to this one.  It isn't usually what people think of when they brainstorm adoption verses, but that's okay.  God knit our next baby together in his mother's womb, perfectly, knowing full well that he was to be ours.  He pieced together our son for his life's journey:  his short but precious time with his birth mom, the years spent in the orphanage, and then, finally, coming home to his family. (which I realize is only the beginning!) This is the verse that comes to my mind when I dream of our baby and all the aspects of him I can't wait to learn about, so I decided to share it with you guys.

We have long debated about doing an adoption blog. I am no writer! I'm afraid that my posts will sometimes read more as a bullet point list as opposed to a beautifully written story. We also tend to lean toward privacy, which would be the opposite of writing a blog.  But alas, after 2 years of the adoption process, we have finally broken down and begun one! A few reasons: (and thus begins my listing)

1. We want to share the amazing things God has done/ is doing in our lives.
2. We want others who are considering adoption or want to support others in the process with an example of what it looks like.
3. Prayer! Prayers is so powerful, and we would loooove more prayer for our family on this journey.
4. Communication with friends and family across the country and the globe (Shout out, Germany and Dubai!)


A quick summary: In the spring of 2015 we finally decided we were going to adopt internationally and after a lot of prayer and research, felt led to adopt from China. We turned in our adoption application and began what feels like a very long, emotionally exhausting process. We have had a lot of high and low moments. We have learned a lot about the system, our government, Chinese culture, and ourselves.  God has been majorly present throughout it all, sometimes in very big, obvious ways and sometimes in subtle ways that we didn't realize until later.  It's been really cool looking back over everything, so I will attempt to share our adoption story over the next month or so as we are in our homestretch, waiting to travel to China to pick up our little Panda Bear. (I have lovingly nicknamed family members to protect privacy.)  We were also planning to use this for our daily updates while in China, as well as after we bring our little guy home.

Although nothing goes according to our plans (thank goodness!), we are trusting in the Lord with all our hearts and leaning not on our own understanding. His way is perfect. He makes our paths straight! We have been blessed beyond anything we could have imagined and look forward to watching His miracles unfold throughout the next few months/years.