What makes a family?

The adoption of our sweet precious 2-year old Leah will be final tomorrow.

This fostering to adoption journey has been truly one of the hardest paths we have ever walked, yet we have seen God's sovereign hand through every difficulty we've encountered.

Our adoption is a little different than most from foster care, since Leah is my husband's biological niece. While she is already his "blood relative", that's not what makes her a part of our "family". What makes Leah our daughter is the result of just one thing: a CHOICE.

Leah is a part of our family, because we made a CHOICE to become her parents and adopt her.

Leah is deeply loved by us, because we made a CHOICE to love her.

Leah is prayed for each day by us, because we make a CHOICE to pray for her.

Leah is worth the 2-year wait in this process of adoption, because we made a CHOICE to wait for all the proper legalities to be taken care of first.

Leah is meant to be our daughter, because God uniquely gifted us, through Christ, to be adopted by Him, so we could then understand adoption in it's purest sense and make the CHOICE to follow through. As we stepped out in obedience, we knew she was meant to be ours.

Leah is a blessing from God, because even before she was born, He knew her birth parents would make the CHOICE to place her with us, and He would protect and provide for her through our home, as we obeyed Him first and trusted Him completely.

Leah will be adopted officially into our family tomorrow, although when she came into our home in July 2015, we had to make the CHOICE to make her a part of our family, regardless of whether she stayed there or not.

All of life, we make CHOICES.

Choosing to foster and adopt is one CHOICE we will never regret...

Has this path been easy? Not in the least!

Has there been some really tough days? Yes and we know there will be more!

Has this experience totally rocked our world? Yes, it's turned it upside down and sometimes turned us inside out!

So, why do we do it? What makes us decide each day to make those tough CHOICES?

Because we know the One who made a CHOICE for us!

Before time began, Jesus Christ chose to leave heaven and come to earth in the form of man, die on a cross to be raised 3 days later, so that our sin debt could be paid and we could receive forgiveness and eternal life with Him!

Oh how great is our Heavenly Father's Love for us, when through Christ, He made the CHOICE to adopt us as His own children! The day we responded to His Spirit's call, repented and placed our faith in Christ alone, we were forever adopted - never again to be separated from Him!

We cannot describe the depth of the longing we have to see others come to know Him and to make Him known in this world so bent on destroying the only Hope we have!

Every day, all you have to do is watch the news (or the social media newsfeed), to see stories of heartache and heartbreak, and many people's lives being torn apart by drugs, divorce, deception, and destructions of many kinds. Or just look at the younger generation today, more fascinated with taking selfies than with trusting a Savior. And idolatry? Rampant in our society - every person looking to something or someone else to bring them peace and contentment... when ONLY Jesus can bring lasting peace and fulfill our every need!

As born-again Christians, we are part of the family of God, adopted into an eternal covenant relationship that cannot be removed. I invite you today, if God has been speaking to your heart and the Holy Spirit has revealed to you that:

(1) you were born a sinner, separated from God by sin

(2) you must repent (turn away) from your sin

(3) by His grace, accept His free gift of salvation.

To be adopted into His family is the best gift any of us could ever receive!

Rejoice with us (and be prepared for your newsfeed to blow up tomorrow with pictures), as we celebrate Leah's adoption and pray with us as we prepare for future adoptions, always with the gospel as our focus and the desire to see many abandoned children have a family and hopefully one day come to a saving knowledge of Christ!

Pray for us as we continue this journey - the battle for the souls of all these children is fierce, but we know we serve a MIGHTY God, who is able to deliver EVERY soul from EVERY sin!

Pictured here is a preview - the moment Peewee met Leah and the moment I met Leah for the first time... may our journey encourage and bless you... and if you'd like to know how you too can make a difference in the life of a child, please message us, we'd love to show you how!

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