bought with the precious blood of Christ

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If you want to skip the introduction below and just jump to our posts related to Christ, click {here}. Otherwise, read on!

Before I write anything else, know this: We don't share our faith here out of superiority or arrogance or obligation. We share our faith for two reasons:
  1. because it defines us and we can't separate our lives, family, reading, anything from our faith and 
  2. because we love people - you! - too much to be silent about God. 
While other religions claim a distant god, the faith is in a real God who loves us - and you! - so much that He became a man, lived and loved among us, died as a sacrifice for our sins, and rose again to conquer death and sin.

Yes, sin, but our faith isn't about sin, because a faith focused on that would suck. It's not about sin; it's about Christ who frees us from sin. And I am so thankful for that!

To know what we believe, start {here} with our story, which is truly God's story in our lives.

To check out our blog posts that are particularly Christ-focused, go {here}. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of our faith and of all things. In Christ alone, our hope is found: it's more than the words of a song; it's the truth.

And watch this. It's worth it.



and the tables have turned so sweetly...

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I love the families we serve in Access Ministry at our church. And I love the volunteers that my husband and I get the privilege of leading.

The past week has taught me how much they love us as well.

One of our volunteers picked us up at the airport and then spent many hours with us in the first few days, letting us rest and helping us acclimate to life as a family of five. Another volunteer brought us dinner yesterday... and another will tomorrow... and another in a week. Others have been texting and emailing and Facebooking and tweeting with encouragement. (It feels weird, to be honest, to refer to them as "our volunteers;" they are simply our friends who we happened to meet by serving together.)

Our families have served us in some of the same ways - with one bringing us dinner this Sunday and others filling my inbox with messages cheering us on - and in different ways as well: offering recommendations for specialists, giving us tips on feeding our sweet girl who likes a full belly but doesn't like the act of filling it, and hugging me with a knowing look in their eyes.

At church on Sunday, a group of volunteers and parents were waiting for me in our children's ministry lobby, and I'm not exaggerating to say that it was as joyous as the greeting we received from friends and family at the airport when we returned home.


I'm used to serving.

I'm not as accustomed to being served.

But I am thankful - oh, so thankful - to be on the receiving end.

adoption has affected our biological children.

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That was the worry of one of our family members, who often asked, How will Jocelyn and Robbie fare with the arrival of a new child with her own set of needs? The way she asked wasn't expressing nice concern; it was dripping with contempt for the crazy idea she thought we might abandon if only she could get us to think about it a little more.

She was right, at least in part.

Adoption has affected our biological children.


They longed for their sister as they waited in anticipation for her to come home.


They shared in excitement with friends



and learned that our family of loved ones is much bigger than biology and paperwork.


They keep praying without ceasing for God to heal the boo-boos on Zoe's brain so that she can walk and run with them,


and they have planned for what changes we might need to make to include their little sister if God has decided it will be better for her mobility to be limited on earth.


They loved a stranger turned sister from the moment they heard about her, even though she lived in a children's home on the other side of the world.


They ask me to print off pictures of other orphans, so that they can pray for them and their families - if they have them - by name.

 

They've started saving money to give to the ministry that cared for Zoe until we arrived and to give to other families who are adopting.


They tell other people about the beauty of adoption.


They now know about that small island country off the coast of China and cut out shapes of Taiwan "so that Zoe will never forget where she came from."


They make room in their hearts and around our table for a girl who once lacked a family.


They are understanding the gospel in new ways, as our oldest can explain that we adopt because God first adopted us as His children through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.


Yes, adoption has affected our biological children,


and I'm more than okay with that.


~+~
Many thanks to my friends Heather and Vallory who posted the amazing pictures of our homecoming that I've included in this post! And thanks also to Rachel and Dad Dingle and Rebecca for documenting it in pictures and video, as well as to Jenelle for capturing it in words and metaphors... so thankful Zoe will have a sweet record of her enthusiastic welcome, thanks to each of you!

bone tired. and blessed.

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I'm calling today a success:

two kids who woke up to vomit in the middle of night, one who recovered before morning.

so she'll be able to return to summer day camp tomorrow, thank goodness.

one who kept down just enough to avoid an ER visit and not enough to keep me from constant prayer for his health.

which might have been God's intent anyway. as a wise friend once said, "anything that brings you to your knees in prayer is a blessing."

 one child fed 23 ounces via bottles from Daddy.

which is 3 ounces more than the minimum we're aiming for.

 she is eating.

 and as much as i love the part about exceeding her minimum ounces for the day, the part that makes me verklempt is "from Daddy."

 one daddy who brought his baby to work to protect her from the germies here.

one mommy who survived with encouragement on Facebook, a Starbucks run from a friend (along with some Gatorade, stickers, and coloring pages for the sick ones), a gift of dresses for Zoe from our next-door neighbors (who are determined to spoil her rotten... which I'm okay with), a meal from the freezer from a friend that fed us tonight, the offer of three meals to help sustain our family in nights to come, and the confirmation that Zoe will be seeing the same cardiologist that two of our little friends have seen and loved in the past.

I'm experiencing a deeper sort of exhaustion than I've ever known, but it's a good sort of bone tired.

Because you know what?

Adoption is hard.

But want to know what's harder? Parenting.

Both are worth it, though. Both make the bone tired feeling a good one as I collapse into bed.

I'll call today a win and thank God for it.


home sweet home

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With all THREE of our children.

(Two of whom are puking right now. Such is parenting, right? Thankfully, Zoe is illness-free right now.)

 We returned from Taiwan on Thursday, and we're settling in to life as a family of five. It's wonderful. (Even in the midst of puking and feeding issues and jet lag!)

Here are the pictures and the updates along the way...
from The Archibald Project
from our family's blog
And one, from The Archibald Project, to get you started.

Soon I'll be posting about these first days, and later this week, I'm looking forward to sharing a post from Sandra Peoples about VBS with special needs! Thanks for your prayers during this time of transition for our family.