Introducing......Our Daughter

"For This Child I Prayed, and the Lord Has Granted Me What I Asked of Him." I Sam. 2:27


Here she is!!!! How long I've waited to see her!! How many hours did I sit and wonder what she was going to look like?!? It's a little surreal to look at her photo and know that she is meant to join our family. I sometimes still can't believe it. What a precious baby. I couldn't have dreamed of such a lovely little person. I find myself staring at her picture, looking it over and studying every little part of her. Her fingers look so long and her feet so small. Her hair is a riot! I love it. I just can't wait to hold her and kiss those sweet cheeks and lips. I want to know what it feels like to pick her up. I just sit back and imagine. I pray it won't be too long before we get to experience all these wonderful things.

It has been an incredible journey, and yet, I feel we're only half way there. Still much paperwork to do and of course, the trip to Vietnam. She seems so far away, sort of unobtainable. Do I dare dream of holding this precious girl? This is what one half of my brain thinks, but then, I can't help it- I am quickly drawn back into a state of imagining. I read my sister's blog entry tonight. She wrote much more eloquently than I could about my own journey to this point. It's strange, that all seems sort of distant from me now, the pain and the disappointment. I am all wrapped up in this baby now, this moment. It's a miraculous thing really. God has been faithful. He's walked with us through it all and drawn us to this place and to this child. There was a lot He wanted to teach me about Himself and a lot of things I need to learn about who I am. I've come out of it more aware of who I am in Him. So I'm thankful. I am thankful that it took what it did to get me here, to get us here. It was hard. It hurt. But God was there and never left. It's usually the painful things that open us up to learning, isn't it? Sometimes I think, "Okay, I think I've learned enough for a while!"! But though we want the grace of relief He faithfully gives the grace of refinement. God is gloriously discontent to leave us in our present state. He wants more for us. And so He does exactly what is needed. And that is how we learn who He is. We get to experience His faithfulness and see just how He works things out, better than we could've imagined. And even though it's not the way in which we thought it'd come, or in the time we thought, we get to see that it is good. And so then, the next time we begin to question, we can reflect back on His faithfulness in the past, and our faith then gets bolstered. We remember what we've learned, what we've seen. This is how faith grows.

These are the lyrics to a song that I listened to and thought about a lot through the last few years. I found it to be incredibly encouraging. These are just the first couple of verses.

Be Still My Soul


"Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.



Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future, as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below."

It's so reassuring. He has it all in His hands, the past, the future, and even now, as we wait, He holds our precious girl in His hands. We can't hold her, or soothe her tears, but He is the Comforter. He sees her. He loves her. He will hold her for us. Be still my soul.

Good night sweet girl. We love you and we will see you soon.