Ready, Set, Go!

We are preparing to leave for China in 6 days (and 2 of those days will be spent camping at Pokagon State Park) to finalize our adoption of Laikyn Luoshan Hope Turnwald and bring her home on September 25th. We hope to be able to blog throughout our time in China, so people back home can track our progress. But to start, a little background information:



Why did we choose to adopt: Basically, we are selfish. I know when people think of adoption they usually think what you are doing is noble or selfless (and this may be true to a point), but outside of our faith and each other, nothing else brings greater joy to our lives than our four children. So, adding another child is really adding more joy to our lives (and, yes, we understand that we are also adding more of the other things as well: chaos, accidents, illness, etc.). And as I think about it, it means I will also need to find a hotel that allows seven people to a room for any future family vacations (everyone knows that I am way to frugal to pay for two rooms). We also believe that adoption is close to the heart of God. He has adopted us as His children, and, regardless of how unlovely we may have been, he poured out His grace onto us and into our hearts (maybe more on this in a later blog).



Now, if we were big believers in fate or irony, we would tell you that it is so ironic that we will be adopting Laikyn almost exactly (maybe exactly) 9 years to the day from our daughter Myka's due date (she was stillborn 2 and a half weeks early on September 1st, 2000). But, we do not believe it was fate; rather, we believe that God's plans are not always our plans and His ways are so far above our ways. So often, we want to follow our own paths that we map out for our lives and always lean on our own knowledge and experience, but God is funny in this way, He wants us to follow Him and trust Him with our lives, which means trusting Him with all of the circumstances and details of our lives (Proverbs 3:5-6).



So, please pray for us while we take this journey. Pray for our boys back home (and those taking care of them - thank you so much) and for their health and safety. Pray for us that God would work out all of the details that could cause stress or anxiety. Pray for the health of Laikyn and us while in China and on the trip home. Pray for the day that we meet Laikyn in person for the first time and, even if there are tears and/or screams, it would be such a great, joyous occasion for us. Finally, and most importantly, please pray that God would use this entire time to teach us. We want to listen to Him and learn from Him and as Philippians 4 says: we do not want to be anxious about anything; rather, we want the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.