Amy, Jeremy, Sam the baby......with a little Chelsea too!
and of course, if you have read this blog for awhile you know that Amy and I love photo shoots out and about town........so here we are workin it!!!!!
I drove Jeremy around town and we did some shopping but it was soooooo H-O-T that we came back to my house to talk and hang out.
Here is the cute couple in my guest/computer room. This day bed is such a great thing in that room. i spend a lot of time writing at my desk and will occasionally become extremely dramatic and throw myself on the bed in overwhelm-ness.....hahahahha. not kidding hahahha. That great painting you see was the painting from my baby room. My grandmother, whom i was named after, was an artist and passed away 4 months before my arrival. I love this painting...a lot!
Amy looking so cute as she talks to J
Ok so that was some of my weekend. I want to totally change gears and share a wonderful story with you that I have been meaning to write for a long time.
These are my old and dear friends Aaron and Charity.....they will laugh at this pic below but Aaron is the College Minister at my old church, Hillcrest Baptist in Cedar Hill and this funny pic is from an 80's Prom Party they had hahahhahaha. Oh the days of planning events for the college....such a great time and i sure wish i had a blog then because we did crazy amazing race weekends/paintball/capture the flag in the woods/kickball and summer swim parties. I loved those days! You can click on their name below if you would like to see there blog about adoption. But I will try and sum it up here.
I want to first say that I have known Aaron since my Junior year in college. I had just transferred to Dallas Baptist University for the University of North Texas. Talk about culture shock. I went from living in a coed dorm...as in coed on the floors too....to a school that had a campus curfew and girl only dorms ha. I could talk about those days forever but I want to share with you how much Aaron means to me. He was the very first guy I had ever seen really worship God. I don't mean sing along and just stand there, I mean worshipping from the inside out.
I will never forget that night. It was the first week there and I had just met him. The song..."Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging, your love is a mountain firm beneath my feet".......was what we were singing and I could not help but just stare at him with his eyes closed and hands in the air. It was the first time that God showed me that I would not have to be the spiritual leader with the guys of my generation. That there were guys out there that not only loved the Lord but were vocal about it and not ashamed to worship Him the was He deserves. It changed my life. Changed my views completely on what God not only expected from me but from the man I would one day marry. And my love for missions comes from Aaron too. Him teaching us from college till when I was a teacher, over and over about the calling for missions is to all people. That is were the love grew for other cultures and people.
We watched Aaron and Charity fall in love and that was neat to be apart of as well. They have both always been very missions minded. Both spending time in other countries. The ski trip one Christmas, that I met Amy on, was also the trip when we were in the mini van and Charity was sharing about wanting to adopt first before they tried to have children. They were not even married at this point and to look back now is a wonderful thing. Charity was born to be a mother....do you know what I mean. She just oozes mommy!!!! Anyway, they were married 3 years ago and have been saving every since so that they could adopt their first child from another country.
"22 months and counting. Almost 2 years in process. Incredible. And finally the movement we have been waiting and working for is here. We are headed to Kazakhstan!" -Aaron
They had a long and hard process but if you ever read their blog you will see that it was COMPLETELY about God. What a work He did in them. And then this past March they received the "go" and traveled to Kazakhstan for a three month adventure to finally see what child GOD had made just for them!
AC outside the orphanage
They were soon matched with Sam.........
"We treasure Sam. He delights us. We also treasure the gospel now more than we did. The gospel is rich, and if it is what we say it is, it motivates us to things that we would otherwise never touch".-Aaron
Sam was about 20 months when they arrived but was very far in developing which is very common for orphan children. I remember them writing that within days he was growing and changing.....he just needed some love and attention. Powerful right!
Sam and Mom during the early days of getting to know each other.......
playing with Dad
does it get any sweeter than this.......oh this just blesses my heart
They had to go through the whole process of visiting Sam during visitor hours and go through all the government stuff....that is why they had to get an apartment there and the whole jazz. But after all the bonding time was in place they were able to bring him home for a few weeks before the final papers were taken care of and they could return to the states.
the boy loves to make music!
first hair cute!
hanging out with Mom!
First Family Picture before they returned home!
Dad and son even have the same ears! I mean, is that not a God thing or what?
the entire time they were abroad they made little videos so that friends and family could see little Sam. This video is my FAVORITE!!!! it is the most precious thing you will ever see. Aaron explains it below................
"This boy has music in his soul. When pretty much any music comes on (ipod, phone ringing, toys, singing, humming, whatever) he starts bobbing his head side to side and if he goes at it very long the bobbing turns into the “Stevie Wonder.” If you don’t know what that looks like, you need to find out so you can maybe start to picture this and also because you are missing out on some great music. Sam will close his eyes just like Stevie and sort of sway his head back and forth. We think part of it is a soothing thing, but I am telling you, the boy has music in his soul".-Aaron
they said it was like he had never really heard music before you know! Oh watch how he moves and then puts himself to sleep...hahahhahhahahahh just the cutest thing ever. it is not long!
Did you not just love that!!!!!!
So.....after I got back from the Cruise and they had just returned home, there was a big baby shower for Sam at Hillcrest in the new student center!
Baby Shower for Sam
Chelsea and Amy
Charity and little Sam getting excited to open presents!!!!!!
One of my Favorite people in the whole world....Ashley Smith....did a small devotional at the beginning. I am starting to think that this is how ALL baby showers should go......start with the Word of God and giving Him alittle praise! She made some great points about how before Sam was even born or conceived that Aaron and Charity were already in the middle of the adoption process....that they were already praying for him and over him without knowing that he was being formed or delivered during that time. Amen right! OUR God is so good. She also said that they are a perfect example of the covenant of God. A and C could have their own children but decided to take in an orphan as their own and love him as their own. They could have just had a baby from their own flesh but made the choice not to right now. God does that same thing...He takes us in and loves us when He doesn't have too.......and He chooses us. So beautiful is the Love of God you know!
Some of the women from the church!
The Granddadies
the sweet Grandmommies
Ashley A. is the lady in the background. She is the wife of the youth minister at Hillcrest. They had been married for many years before the were able to get pregnant. Then God blessed them with a baby girl and before they knew it they were pregnant again. It was good to see her cute belly!
Here's Sara taking down all the names and gifts. It was great to see her too. We met several years ago when they had just moved to the area and we were at the same small group table during the Beth Moore "Daniel" study. I think we were the youngest girls there hahaha. But we loved it! As some of you know Sara lost her son Elliot a year ago in April after just one precious hour with him. They knew ahead of time that this might or would happen. I will never forget sitting behind them one Sunday morning and as the grief just radiated off of her she was still singing praises. Maybe there was no sound coming out of her mouth but her lips were moving while she cried and it was worship! Made me cry instantly.........and now our wonderful and loving God has blessed them with another baby in her womb that is to be a son! And I was really glad to see her with this new joy that is coming! Really blessed me.
So as you can see this was a baby shower full of God's answered prayers. Oh I loved every minute of it!
Dad and son
Chelsea and I
Amy and I
Mr. Stud Muffin himself with that cute mohawk
It was a great time. Many of these wonderful people I had not seen since I moved. Again....this is my church home...always will be. Yes I love my new church but I was so transformed during those years there that it will always make me sigh with the feeling of comfort when I walk in. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE CHURCH FAMILY!
NOTHING! it is beyond words to explain and the biggest gift that God gives us other than salvation! There is also nothing better than seeing your old friends become parents. WoW. It blows my mind and just makes me so excited to have my own! I am so grateful that I got to help pray this adoption through. I am so glad to be able to see them grow and serve the Lord. Adoption is such a beautiful thing and I think it is an honor for God to tell you to move toward it! I am glad Aaron and Charity were obedient.
last but NOT least................
hahahahhaha
she is so cute and sooooo funny! Chels has a blog! you can click here and check out all her adventures....... She is so funny...i know i just said that but she is. We met Christmas of 06....is that rigth girls?????.......she was living in China with Amy and they were roommates. We arrived and I loved her on spot! She just brings the funny out in me! She is actually dating Amy's boyfriend's roommate!!! how crazy is that...i was like "hello??????? any other seminary guys that live with you that i need to meet!!!!" hahah oh just kidding.........a little heheheh. Go check her out and enjoy!
ok so that is the update. i am so long-winded these days...i will try to keep that in check! love you friends. I don't know specically who some of you are so I have now started praying for the different States and cities that pop up on my live feed.
So if that is you then I am soooo lifting you up! Love you!