Home Sweet Home!

We made it!  We are all so happy to be home!  What a long trip, but sooo worth bringing our Ainsley girl home!  Many prayers were answered in a smooth, safe trip home.  Ainsley did really well with traveling.  Out of our 16 hours of flying, I think she slept about 8-9 hours, and was happy for the most part! What a blessing that she can sleep just about anywhere!

Thank you, Thank you for praying us through this trip!  And for welcoming us home in many ways!

God is so faithful!  One thing that has stuck out to me is that regardless of the circumstances in our life, He remains the same!  Unlike my adventurous husband, I am a person who is not a big fan of change, risk, or adventure... so I cling to that fact that God remains the same!
As some of you know, the past year has been a difficult one as far as our adoption process.  It's too long to go into detail, but let's just say there have been many difficult moments, when it was hard to see how God was working, or what His plan could possibly be?
As I looked back, I realized that exactly one year ago today,
July 12, 2013 was the day we submitted our "LOI" (letter of intent) for a little girl, who we had been matched with. Unbeknownst to us at that time, there were glitches with China's new computer system.  We were 1 of 3 families matched up with the same little girl.  She was not meant to be ours. At that point it was heartbreaking to Greg and I, and our kids to "lose" this little one we had already opened our hearts to.  Why would God show us this little one...who was not meant to be ours?  It seemed like a cruel joke.  Yep, I was angry and disappointed.  That night Ellie took the picture- she had labeled, "my sister!" off her bedroom wall and tucked it in her drawer, while we decided, that maybe God showed her to us- so that we could pray for her.  Then came more painful waiting, along with getting our hopes up and then getting our hopes crushed, in the process... up until this Spring when we saw Ainsley!
Today, exactly a year later, we arrived home with our sweet Ainsley!  What a gift she is to our family!!  I still don't know why God chose to lead us down this winding path, but I do know I trust Him more. I saw God's care in many ways...in keeping me as a children's leader in BSF last fall(even though I told them I could only start the year because we were adopting very soon...or so I thought)  God knows despite my good intentions, I need accountability to stay in His word.  Through BSF, I heard God gently reminding me to focus on Him, not on my circumstances.  I heard Him telling me that "even when I don't know why, or can't understand how, I can still trust the Who!"  I read again that "His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are higher...", how "He goes before us and behind us and hems us in". He was helping me "be still", not by my own strength, but through His.  He encouraged me on a particularly difficult morning, when 3 different toddlers in our class at different times, blessed me with a "tight-squeeze hug" just out of the blue.  He surrounded me with others who were faithfully seeking Him, even when they couldn't understand His plan.  When I look back I can see God's grace!  Why do I share all this?  Because this is my "pile of stones", the place where I want to be able to look back and remember God's faithfulness.

Just as Ainsley couldn't possibly see the big picture of joining our family or what that means.  I know I cannot see God's big picture yet for us, but He is helping me trust in Him- and the peace that He
gives is something I don't want to live without.

I can see God knitting Ainsley into our hearts, and into our family in a way that only He can.

Dear Ainsley,
You are a miracle!
We have and continue to fall more in love with you each day, Ainsley Hope! 
Your Mommy and Daddy love you more than words can say!! 
When we see your eyes light up,or your arms reach out to us, it fills our hearts with joy and we thank God that we get to be your parents!  Your big sisters are just crazy about you and I can see your big brothers being pretty protective of you already!  You are just starting to let us into your heart, and we love seeing more of who you are- who God created you to be, each day! 
You really are brave, tiny one!  God has great things in store for you, Ainsley...
This is our prayer for you:
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you, Ainsley with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...
Ephesians 3

I know there are many of you that have or are going through much more difficult things than what we have experienced in this last year...I  pray that God will especially encourage you today through His word, His faithfulness and His unchanging love!