Travel dates!!!!!!!

We have travel dates!!! We leave for China early July 18 and will return late July 31!! We will actually meet Joshua the afternoon of July 21--finally! It gets so hard to wait towards the end! We are now in the frantic but happy process of lining up LOTS of details, so if you don't hear from us, don't worry--all is well! (Or if you DO hear from me and I am incoherent, you will know the reason!) The girls and Jeremy will stay at home with family to try to maintain as much normal routine as possible for Jeremy. We appreciate SO much all of the love and support that we have been given to bring home both Jeremy and Joshua--it couldn't happen without all of the "behind the scenes" people!


Part of bringing a new child into your family, no matter the method, involves lots of preparation, and for international adoption of an older, special needs child, there is maybe a little more, but fortunately there are lots of great resources. As I read and try to learn what issues we may need to help our sons with, both immediately and down the road, it sometimes seems overwhelming--so many things to watch for and "techniques" to learn. There are things that we won't be able to fix, no matter how much we love them, and that is a daunting thought. They have suffered loss and trauma that many of us as adults have not faced... As I was pondering this a few days ago (okay, worrying about it!), the Lord reminded me that it is not within any person's ability to "fix" another, but only through His love and mercy and salvation will ANY of us ever be whole. His knowledge of their hurts and needs is infinitely greater than ours will ever be, and He will use those very things to shape their lives for His glory... Our job is to continually point them towards their heavenly Daddy, who truly was with them as they were knit together in their mother's womb.... There will still be lots of things, some painful, that we can't explain or understand from our earthly perspective, but SOMEDAY we will see the whole, beautiful tapestry that God has been weaving since the beginning of time and THAT is the hope we will share with our new son.....