stories and prayers with our three children

/
I didn't post all the pictures from The Archibald Project here, though more will be coming (as well as sweet pictures from our arrival at the Raleigh airport), so please check out the amazing ways they documented our adoption journey on their Facebook page and in these blog posts: the country, our first meeting in the hospital, and her release from the hospital.

 Also, a friend set up a page for meal sign-up for our family. I think it works by signing up with your email address, then waiting for one of the friends coordinating the site to approve you, and then - once you get the approval email - choosing a date from the calendar there. I haven't used this site before, so let me know if you have any questions, and I'll ask my friend!
~+~

Life is settling into a new normal, with story time and prayer time and bed time with three kids.

loving story time with Daddy

talking about the pictures

story time can be pretty active around here!

two pairs of eyes on the book, one pair of eyes on the mama and her camera

getting ready for prayer time!

praying as a family (well, minus the mama behind the camera...)

not gonna lie... this sort of thing happens sometimes during prayer time around here

realizing that Zoe's prayer time seems a bit intense...

...yep, she's snoozing.

the pictures I've wanted to share for so long

/
Most days, I have yearned to share these pictures with you.

Some days, I have cherished having them to myself.

You see, when I post pictures of Robbie and Jocelyn here, I know I still have the best moments. The ones not caught on camera. The special bonds that are formed through physical presence and not just visual images.

I've memorized these pictures.

I've prayed over them.

I've fallen in love with them.

For Zoe, the pictures were all we had of her. Until now.

Now, I can share these pictures with you and the rest of the world, because she is now in our arms.





















the face of an orphan

/
This was the face of an orphan.


She was three months old then.

Now she's eight months old.

She's not an orphan anymore.

She's our daughter.

David Platt wrote in Radical, "We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes."

Seeing her face changed everything for us.

And while I've said from the beginning and still believe that everyone is not called to adopt, I do hope for some of you that God uses a little face to change everything for you too.

Because as much as people say that Zoe is blessed, God has changed so much in us through this process that we know the truth.

We are the ones who are blessed.


pictures thanks to an amazing non-profit called The Archibald Project; learn more here or here

Views from our hotel room this morning

/
Pictures of Zoe are coming. Soon. I promise! She isn't with us right now because she's in the hospital with an upper respiratory infection, but it's nothing so serious that she would be hospitalized for it if we were in the US right now. She'll be discharged tomorrow, and we'll spend the day at the hospital with her today. She has bonded a lot with her nanny, so even though this is not how we planned her transition to us (usually she would have come home to our hotel with us yesterday afternoon), it seems as if God has orchestrated exactly what Zoe needs in getting to ease more slowly from care by her nanny to care by her mommy and daddy.

All that said, take a look at the city, ocean, mountains, and rainbow that I woke up to this morning...