Category Archives: Adoption Milestone We raised our right hands. I cried. Isaac gave the judge a high five. (Doesn’t the judge look happy???? He said adoptions are the highlight of his work…and our crew made his day! We also used up a lot of sticky notes from his desk letting the kids color on them…and I never knew how […]  I can’t believe TODAY–June 27th–marks ONE YEAR since I first held our sweet boy in my arms. This Saturday, July 2nd–will be the day Isaac came home and met his daddy and siblings for the first time…and I can’t wait to celebrate!!! This Wednesday is our re-adoption day where Isaac will officially be readopted in […] oh so sweet…happy one year home sweet boy, kj Happy One Year Gotcha Day Anniversary to precious Isaac!!! Happy one year home Isaac! Fun to look back at the memories of his year home – I’ll be thinking about you guys this week while you pass more beautiful milestones. Tears come flooding back….remembering that first post when you shared about your little boy….. Remembering pleading with God on your behalf to work in his life, to save him, to heal him, to help him to have such a testimony as to blow the world away for HIM! Just thinking about it brings back memories of all the HUGE things God has done. The love I know that has brought about healing even in those very tough moments I KNOW you have faced over and over and over. I am filled to overflowing with emotions for you…..oh the goodness of God never ceases to amaze me!!! LOOOOVVVEEEEEE seeing how God has used your family for HIM! PRAYING still as God brings you another child to raise for HIM! YIPEEE JESUS!! You stepped out knowing God can….and God HAS! Nothing more beautiful than that 🙂 SOOOO right Dawn!!! Glory be to God!!!!!! Thank you sweet sister for praying for my boy!!! You were there right from the beginning! So thankful for your consistent prayers on our boy’s behalf!!!!! We are family indeed! Happy one year in the arms of your family Isaac! You have been a part of our families prayers for over a year and it’s so amazing to see how God has worked in all the details!! Happy Gotcha Day Isaac Temesgen! Your journey has inspired countless others. One day you’ll be shocked to learn know how He’s used you, over and over! The Owens Family loves you! LOVED watching/reading this!!!! God has done so much in his sweet little life and yalls! LOVE it! Thank you, Jesus!  Today’s post follows yesterday’s post… “Where is she Lord? Where do you want me to go? Downtown Atlanta–I’ll go there. Across the world–I’ll go there…just show me Lord–I will go.” There I stood in my shower of all things talking outloud to the Lord. I had been praying for weeks while rocking my new one […] So excited for your news to be public! You’ve been in my prayers. I just got good news regarding China as well – my brother found out today he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and is moving to China! Cried through every single word!!!! What an amazing journey and I beyond excited for Eliza to have another Chinese sister here in Atlanta!!!! Oh Andrea. Crying tears of joy for you. LOVE the transparency of your post and absolutely love love love how God has not only brought this 10 year journey full circle but seems to have tied a bow on it with that frame. I LOVE this. Truly. One of my favorite adoption stories ever. SO happy for your blessed family! LOVE hearing about your journey, my friend! I just got done blogging about our oldest who is working his way to Bible college … much of that endurance and determination was learned during our adoption journeys. AMAZING how God works! PRAISE GOD!!!! I told Jeff after the Created for Care Retreat that I just knew in my knower that you were going to adopt again! And soon! He thought I was crazy! SOOOOOOOOO SOOOOOOOOOO GLAD God is bringing you full circle, back to China! Beautiful how He intertwined this already precious story ~ your love for China, Laney’s prayers for a sis, and even the picture frame! H.o.l.y. c.o.w!!!!! Truly amazing story. Can’t wait to follow along on your journey and see this precious one’s face! LOVE how God blesses our obedience! You laid China at the foot of the cross………and He continues to bless your sweet surrender. I don’t think I’ve ever commented, but I guessed it from the first post!!! We are so close to bringing home our daughter from India and I love to read your heart that believes…simply believes that Jesus is who He said He was! Thank you for these beautiful posts! Ahhhh!!!! Are you KIDDING me?!? I’m SO excited for you Andrea…and your family! When I first read that post about you and your husband meeting and China I thought, hmm…I wonder why Ethiopia and not China? SOOOO excited to see WHO God has chosen for your family! Thrilled to be following along in your journey again. Incredible! I am so excited for your family! My sister (http://shirlee-mccoy.blogspot.com/) adopted a little girl from China two years ago–also their fifth, and a little more than a decade after she first felt the stirring to adopt from China. Love how God works. And I love the picture with the chair waiting to be filled. Beautiful. Congrats, Andrea!! It has always been my dream to adopt a girl from China..so wonderful for you, and your family!! I cannot imagine there is anyone more excited than me (outside your precious family and Abba Father of course). I am selfishly praying your trip brings you thru Hong Kong. I already LYLAS and cannot wait to hug your neck and hear your laugh. Your story gives me hope. Ten years huh? I pray my turn is not that long! Love & Blessings from Hong Kong, Kim Yay, I knew it! How awesome for your family. Can’t wait to follow along your journey, Andrea. Hugs! Wow Andrea, beautiful story ~ I soo love your heart! Congratulations!!!!! Andrea, we have been so blessed by your beautiful family and your heart for following God. We are so excited for you as you share this exciting news, and we can’t wait to see how God leads you in the days ahead! Amazing news!!! I love that your heart for China is coming full circle. God works in amazing ways! What beautiful news! Can not wait to watch God working in all of your lives. 🙂 Oh my goodness. I was crying through all of that… so excited for you. (And hoping it’s similiar to my story someday with answering my daughter’s prayers for a sister too!) 🙂 How cool Richard WAS on board after all! 🙂 Praise the Lord. SO excited to watch this journey unfold, and so blessed to have you challenge the rest of us along the way. YAY!!!!! So excited for you guys, praying 🙂 Congrats! What a beautiful thing. God has been working on me in the same way. We have a daughter from China, and are waiting on ET. Been feeling lots of doubt about ET though, and lots of people have informed us about the lack of “need”. At this point, we are just waiting on God’s leading and are begging for discernment. I have to say, in reading your “best year” posts, I wondered if a China adoption was in your future! God is so in the details! I had a BIG feeling this was the announcement…;) SO overjoyed for you and your family! Much love and many, many prayers are going up! 😉 Can’t wait to hear and see pictures…and will be looking forward to updates! YAY!!!! 🙂 Praise the Lord!!! So happy that you both are following the Lord’s calling and have a clear vision together! What a ride! 🙂 SOOOOO happy for you all!!! I just can’t stop smiling!! Oh this is so sweet and such exciting news. I cannot wait to follow you all on this journey!! This was a beautiful post Andrea. Congrats to your family! I’m so excited for you. A beautiful new addition. So happy for Laney that it’s a girl. What a wonderful plan God has for your family. And another journey begins – what a precious moment for your family and how sweet the story is when GOD is in control. YAY YOUNG FAMILY OF SEVEN!!! =) Well you know we are thrilled for you and have been praying for your next adventure. We need to talk…lots going on here…but still praying for BIG things. So happy the news is out so I don’t have to be secretive anymore – HA! Congrats…what a special time of hope for your family!!! Been following your blog for a while and was absolutely thrilled to read this post this morning! Oh how big our God is! How He loves His children! Thank you for your faithfulness to follow His leading and to trust Him to provide all the grace that you need. I’ll be praying for Him to give you peace in the waiting! So sweet and such a joy to read this morning. I wish ya’ll the best as you become a family of 7, and cannot wait to follow you on this journey! Andrea!! I am beyond excited for your sweet family! This fabulous news has made my day! It was the first news I read upon waking and coming to the computer this morning! I hurried to work to pull up you blog on my computer in my office and read all the wonderful details! What a blessing!! Cannot wait to see your new baby girl! (: Love you, friend! Oh…how my heart rejoices with you! I have tears in my eyes at the incredible workings of our Lord. He is so, so, good. And the lesson He taught you about the greatest need…I TOTALLY needed that. I’m preparing and praying to return to Uganda for missions work and have been praying to know which org. to work with, which has the greatest need. oh man. Thank you! Praying for you all as you embark on this journey!! I am so excited for you!! I have enjoyed reading your Best Years posts, but never thought it would end up here!! We are in the process of adopting waiting siblings from Ghana. It’s great when you begin in one spot and God leads you somewhere unexpected. Tha has been our adoption journey as well. YAY, Andrea!!!! I just knew that she was going to be from CHINA!!! How wonderful! Jody and I always thought we would bring a daughter home from China one day! We were totally surprised when God told us she was in Ethiopia! But I still have a soft spot in my heart for China too! My friend, Jennifer, just brought Alice home from China. They were with Lifeline! I got to meet them in person a few weeks ago…PRECIOUS!!! So excited for ya’ll! Can’t wait to follow your journey! Thank you for sharing how God spoke to you re. where the need is. Wow – exactly what i needed to hear!!! Such an amazing story! I absolutely love seeing the progression of God working in yours and your husband’s lives, even before you knew each other. Everything fitting perfectly together because God was weaving it. I’m at a point in the ministry I’ve been called to where I’m hearing silence and after reading what you wrote, I know it’s God asking me for my complete blind trust. He’s asking me to trust even when I don’t see or understand or what’s happening doesn’t make sense. I have to stand and know that HE IS and that’s enough. God bless your family on this journey! Pretty much a mess of tears. Beautiful story of Gods plan, can’t wait to see who HE has picked…..love how God works in the hearts of mamas. Giggling in a big way about Rico’s DONE comment. Sounds familiar. Pretty sure that’s why my husband wanted a Z name. Yeah for the five club!! China! Oh my! Love this post and your willingness to follow God’s calling. We are coming up on two years logged into China…and I have the special needs form sitting in my paper pile right now…praying that God will show us how to check the boxes. Wonderful news and what an amazing journey it will be. Could it be that there will be two families…so geographically close…with one little one from Ethiopia and one from China? God is so good! Absolutely DELIGHTED to hear this news shouted from the roof tops! THRILLED for your family. We LOVE the Youngs!!! Soooo excited for your family. I LOVE the picture of all the kiddos with the empty chair for sister. SO precious. I love reading your posts. I can just feel the love of Jesus pour out from your heart. To Him be the glory! I can’t wait to hear about the rest of your journey! Oh Andrea, I am so very happy for you and your family. The part about the quote truly made tears run down my face! You’ve got to have that painted/framed/something inside your house! :c) I will be praying for your whole precious family on this journey to your new girl. Andrea!!! Beyond thrilled for you guys! We have felt the tug to China SN many times in the last few months (I’ll have to share details with you sometime)…..we are still waiting on ET for today, but just praying through what that planted “seed” for China is going to be used for. Just in awe of how the Lord has brought your family full circle with a desire HE put in your heart for China years ago. Cannot wait to watch this next journey unfold for your beautiful family! Praying her home! Much love! Just found your site! Your post reduced me to nothing!!I was hit by a wave of emotion as I read on and on. Mostly because you share a similar story to my family. You see we adopted our oldest daughter who’s 7 from China and then our youngest daughter who’s 4 from Ethiopia. You are truly blessed to be bringing home another child. I am so happy for you even though I don’t know you. I will be reading your updates! This is so wonderful ! I am inspiredby your obedienceto our sweet Lord. He works on all of us through people like you,Andrea. Blessings for growing and hearing your call. i think even if i wasnt pregnant, i would still be bawling my eyes…thank you sweet sister in the Lord for sharing this journey with us…the things God shows you and you then share with us…really are things I need to hear and be reminded of…your faith, your family, are so inspirational! Andrea this was a true joy to read. I love it that the Lord had stored up that gift you gave Him on your wedding day, trusting Him with your heart’s desire, and has now giving it back to you in a form far more precious than you could have imagined then. Just beautiful. His plans for you all are full of goodness and adventure in Him! Wow I’m just so excited for you and your family … it gives me goosebumps to see how Clearly God revealed himself to you to lead you to your 5th child! What an amazing story to share with her someday!! I’m just so excited and will be following along praying for this precious child!! YAY screaming with excitement from Fla:) miss your blog for a few days and THIS…………WOOOOTTT!!! So excited for you! This crossed my mind when you mentioned the 2,000 waiting on the listserve… thrilled for you and you can trust that you are being prayed for in IL! Oh Andrea…I am SO excited to read this! Can’t wait to follow this new journey to another sweet child. I just LOVE the way the Lord’s plans for our lives are always so much better than what we could ever dream up ourselves. =) WOW!!!!!!!!!! My heart is sooo Happy for you!!!! You do realize that we said 3 is good….we’ll just foster for any children that need a place…..and then when we had 6 we said oh forget it and let’s go to ETH….then why not 8? he he he…. PRAYING for you new journey following Christ, and for your daughter that will be coming home! To a home that will love her unconditionally and show her the face of Jesus!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!! So, so, so very excited for you guys!!! And blessed beyond measure by your posts. Thank you for sharing how God has led you, esp. how you listened and waiting. What a great reminder that I need to do this every day. SOOOO thankful that baby Mark is NOW home and an official member of the Cain family!!! Jeremiah and Mark flew home THIS SATURDAY…and we are SO PUMPED to have a new member in our African Fellowship group!!! They’ve been coming for months…and we’ve been all anxiously waiting Mark coming home! Sweet Sara stayed here with […] Just beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!! So excited for everyone to meet Mark! and for him to meet everyone!!! Tried to leave a comment on your newest post about Laney’s skirt, but it won’t let me. It is adorable! Love your thoughts. God knows your heart. Don’t let someone else bring you down.  BASEBALL One of my FAVORITE seasons has begun!!! The one that starts with a B!!! BASEBALL SEASON! I just love it!!! And this past Saturday was P’s first game of the season! He is 6 years old, and they skip t-ball in this particular league and only pull the tee out if you miss the […] I DO love your new picture wall!! You have inspired me. Too many of my pics have been up for way too long! And, I love the pics like the one of Frank too. He won’t make those faces forever, and you don’t want to forget. Your home looks so inviting. Very calming! Where did you get Laney’s dress? My girl would love that! Laney wears the cutest clothes! you are so fun! you inspire me! Can’t wait to see ya’ll this weekend!!!! Your sweet girl looks BEAUTIFUL! What a fun date! I love your picture wall, too.. LOVE it! Baseball and home deco. |
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I remember the exciting time this was last year… what a beautiful way to celebrate it this year!!!! Love that picture!!!!! :):)
Love it. so happy for you friend. makes me think back to when we had our court day to officially becomes our Isaac’s parents! Praise God! He is faithful!
So special!! Congrats!!!
Praise Jesus! I know this is all so sweet and exciting for your family. Enjoy your party…you have all earned it!
YAY!!! So excited for ya’ll!!! I know it’s great to celebrate such a huge milestone!