Praise be and glory to God!!! HE. IS. WALKING!

Today marked a very BIG miracle in our house today…and I am overjoyed with excitement and thanksgiving!!! We have been praying our little guy would walk (he has hypotonia so we were guessing it’d be closer to two–and weekly we do physical therapy)…and HONESTLY–we have seen the MOST gains since getting our dog Rosie as Isaac just can’t get enough of her. Well, today he couldn’t stand it and when I put him down he just started walking to Rosie. I DO BELIEVE we have a therapy dog–and right now Rosie is the ONE thing we have that motivates him most! Seriously…who would have thought?!

MORE SO–Richard and I would have never guessed even yesterday or this morning that Isaac would walk today. He just started balancing a bit–and when we get him to move his legs by holding onto his hands they are so straight and choppy…well, we just thought we had a LONG way to go. Many of you know we have been praying that by some miracle he’d walk by February 15th—one year from the day he entered Hannah’s Hope orphanage and the day the first picture we have of him was taken. Seeing that picture–you really realize what a miracle our boy is. THIS time last year he was 5 months and UNDER 6 pounds…and on February 15th he was 6 months and just hitting 6 pounds. TODAY–he is 17 months and 25 pounds…and HAPPY, HEALTHY, and a CUDDLE BUG! Rejoice with us with all that God hath done!!! We are so proud of you Isaac Temesgen Young! (turn off music up top before watching…) ANOTHER cool thing is Aunt Reid had JUST gotten here…AND my dear friend Christy who has been one of our BIGGEST cheerleaders literally walked to the door while this was happening…I love how God orchestrating them to see this too and celebrate this really cool moment with us!

I love that God heard our prayers–but He knocked our socks off by bringing strength, balance and a new determination an entire month early than the date we had been praying for!!! REALLY?! My precious friend and travel buddy Marcy Smith said it best when I shared this news with her earlier today: “What a gift he is…what a picture of God’s blessings in and through the tough stuff. I feel like all of us adoptive families get a front row seat to his faithfulness!“ Before adopting a 1 year old…before trusting God with all the unknowns…before saying yes to this part of mommyhood–I. JUST. DIDN’T. KNOW. WHAT. I. WAS. MISSING! And here I thought–the blessings would be on our baby. Sure–I’m sure there are some…but the real blessings…OH MY HEART! And to watch my Parker get excited! And to see my Laney jump up and down and squeal with delight! To see Frank cheer Isaac on!!! They are all being shaped into through God’s glory right before my eyes…and I AM SO THANKFUL…SO THANKFUL—SO THANKFUL we said yes! Isaac Temesgen Young, YOU bring SO MUCH JOY to our lives sweet son!!! We love you to pieces–and we are so proud of every milestone you perservere to! Your stubborness–ALSO known as perserverence to not give up (whether it be to get that box of Cheerios out of the pantry and dump it out AGAIN or to not let anyone touch you while you TRY again)…is also what helped you make it to us…and I’m so thankful for the little man full of JOY and LOVE I’m watching you become!!!

Some things I will never forget on this journey to you, Isaac…

…when I LONGED for you so deeply and wondered if we were in the right place waiting…and the Lord so clearly spoke to me through scripture…oh such a sweet story you can read here

…when I read the story of Abraham and Isaac to your siblings during our Lent tree and my heart sank–and long before we got your referral…I felt the Lord whispering YOUR NAME. I knew you’d be a boy although we were on both lists. And I knew your name would be Isaac.

…when we got your referral call…(you can read about that joyous day here)…we said YES in our hearts LONG before we ever saw your face…I’ll never forget that plane ride with your daddy…or calling Kiersten our caseworker to say “YES! He is OUR son!!!!” I’ll never forget looking over the list of things you could do…and how at 8 months NOTHING was checked BUT ONE THING. ONE. The ONLY thing checked was “he smiles”. And what does Isaac MEAN??? YES…”he smiles”. I’ll never forget smiling sitting there realizing how perfect God is…how we said yes before we even realized that sweet detail…and how even more it made us long for you as we KNEW you were our Isaac…our son!

…when we called the international pediatrician and our little 8 month old couldn’t even hold up his head…over and over and over she would say, “Might he not ever hold his head up? Absolutely. Might he not ever sit? Absolutely. Might he never walk? Absolutely.” OH–the phone call SHOULD HAVE BEEN awful but I just couldn’t WAIT for her to be quiet so I could finally say, “BUT–is he our son?? ABSOLUTELY. So, if you could be so kind to write up everything you told me and email that to our agency asap–I would be forever greatful.” And just like that…our paperwork was on it’s way to the embassy to bring you home!

There are so, so, soooo many things I will never forget. Our journey and life with you, sweet boy, has been MIRACULOUS. AND today–was ANOTHER one of those sweet days! Thank you all for praying for us–celebrating with us…and loving us through the hard stuff and the exciting stuff. Praise be and glory to God in the highest for all that He has done!

I just HAD to watch THIS again today!!! TODAY made me think of all my travel buddies and their babies also! WHAT AN HONOR it is to celebrate this with you all especially. We “labored” together to bring home our children–and I love each of you dearly…Cheri, Meghan, Marcy, Lori…this one is for old times sake…I can’t BELIEVE in just 6 months how far our kids have come!

P.S. AND YES–for those of you who wondered…we are STILL iced in…and they cancelled school for the FIFTH (yes 5th!) day in a row!!!! Oh my. BUT…our little miracle moment today erased ALL our cabin fever and we are just so excited!!!! Obviously we just needed to be at home practicing walking I guess!!! Love to you all…and I have ANOTHER miracle story about the retreat!!! I’ll share that soon…but you all that are coming are going to be SO excited! Something in it for you all that can’t come too! God is THAT big!

P.S.S. It is SO much fun to read your comments to this one!!! Just read some and had to come back and say that:). Some of you have been praying with us and trusting with us in this since the very beginning! Some of you held your breath when we said YES because you knew how it might turn out…BUT you held your breath and cheered us and Isaac on! So many of you have prayed for us…and we are so thankful for YOU! Thank you for celebrating today with us. From the bottom of my heart…we love each of you dearly. Can’t wait to give many of you hugs in just a few weeks at the retreat!