Sunday, August 11, 2013

Josie, Our Joy


As I read over the last two blog posts and thought about all that has happened in the last year, I am overwhelmed.  We welcomed Josie home one year ago today.  I can hardly believe it has already been a year, even though I can barely remember life without her.  


This is a picture of our sweet Josie in China.  Do you notice anything missing?  I do.  This picture is so precious, but it always reminds me of a painful reality, we were not there.  Tyson and I did not travel to China to get Josie.  Of course that was not our choice.  We had no control over the situation.  But we did travel to get Ren, which makes me even more aware of what we missed.  We had very few pictures of Josie in China and very few of her time with her travel group.  My heart ached to know more and fill in the missing pieces.  So, I did what any good, (slighty psychotic) mom would do, I turned to YAHOO.  Yes, if you travel among the adoption community, you know what I am talking about.  A few weeks or so after Josie came home, I joined a Yahoo group for families that had adopted from the Zhejiang province in China.  I wrote a simple post stating something like, "We had adopted our daughter through a dissolved adoption.  We did not travel to China to get her.  Any info about her province would be appreciated."  Time passed and I had heard nothing.  Then one day I had an email from the Zhejiang travel group.  I was totally unprepared for what I read.  The email was from a lady who was in Josie's travel group!  She had all kinds of pictures of Josie and sweet stories of their time in China.  That one email set off a chain of events that I can barely wrap my heart around, much less, write down.
These pictures were taken at our pool on Memorial Day this year.  To the passerby, the pictures would be a normal group of friends.  Anyone looking in would see moms, dads and kids, (lots of kids).  But these pictures represent so much more. They tell a story of God's promises fulfilled and the enormity of His unmatchless love.
In Josie's China Travel group, there were a total of five families including Josie's first family.  Three of the families spent Memorial Day with us.  Did I mention one family drove all the way from Texas and another from Missouri? I was a little worried about having all the families over.  I mean we didn't really know each other.  Wouldn't it be weird?  Just like the rest of Josie's story, I can't explain that day.  It was so easy, so joyful.  These families have prayed for us and given us the link to Josie's past that we would have otherwise not had.
One other family was not able to make it Memorial Day but guess who I ran into at the Orphan Summit? None other than the mom from that family!!

The one other thing that I totally had no clue about was Josie's Chinese town and the orphanage that she came from.  Even though Josie was in China with these other families, she was the only one adopted from her orphanage.  The Lord knew my heart and that I desired to know all I could, but I thought that finding out anything else was unlikely......of course until I got another email from the Zhejiang group.  This time it was an email from a precious lady in the NETHERLANDS!  She was able to tell me about Josie's town and her orphanage.  And guess what else?  Her son and Josie were in the orphanage together!

I could not make all of this up if I tried.  This is just the cliff note version of our story.  There are so many other miracles. It just overwhelms me that the Lord has provided so much for me, but more importantly for Josie.  As she grows up, she may, like a lot of adopted children, struggle with identity or feelings of abandonment.  As she hears her story, there is one thing she has to know:  The Lord, our creator, our savior, loved her and had plans for her.

We celebrated today.  Josie's Forever Family Day.  We went to see Planes at the movies.  We ate at Shogun, (Japanese food, I know:), with one of the dear families from her travel group.  We went to Target and she picked out a Tinkerbell doll.  But the best thing about today was Josie, pointing to herself, telling everybody, very proudly, "MY DAY".


To my Josie:  You are a joy and why the Lord has given me the privilege to be your mother, I will never know.  I love you!

To Josie's travel group:  Thank you for loving our girl, loving our family, and filling the gaps for us!

To my Lord:  I praise you Lord God, the God of Israel, who ALONE does marvelous deeds.  Praise be to your glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with your glory, Psalm 72:18,19.

4 comments:

  1. Happy Forever Family Day Josie!!! Thanking God that you are with your forever family. You are a beautiful little girl and a precious treasure from God!!! Hope to see you one day soon! :)

    Love,
    Machell and Albert (and the gang)

    For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
    Jeremiah 29:11

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  2. It never ceases to amaze me the goodness of our God! The way that he knit this story so perfectly together. We love you Josie (and your family too)!

    Ephesians 3:17b-18 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

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  3. Beautiful blog, family, story! To God be the glory!
    Here are some posts on my blogs you might enjoy...
    http://delanasworld.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/tummy-mommy/
    http://nineyearpregnancy.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/year-for-year/

    Blessings,
    Delana

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  4. What a great story! Love seeing the pictures. After seeing the picture of the group of people who came on Memorial Day, it reminded me of running into you that day in Kroger as you prepared (really, it was the dress that triggered my memory...haha....go figure). Your sweet, blended, unique family is always a blessing to me! Love you girl!

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