We received yet another dose of great news just yesterday. Emily's heart echo came back translated and our International Pediatrician in Birmingham studied the results and called to tell us that her heart is perfectly healthy! Her congenital heart defect has completely healed itself! The only very small concern left is the minor brain atrophy I mentioned in a previous post. They are calling it cerebral palsy but again, it is very minor. She is currently receiving some massage therapy for her muscles and improvement is being noted. Although we don't have a perfect picture of the CP, we do know that it doesn't seem to have affected her cognitive ability at all!
Our hearts are so full. We love this precious girl with all that we are. She is our daughter, plain and simple. She is our sister. She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. But her real story is not our love for her, rather the love that Christ has for her. It's infinitely greater than our love for her.
This is the face of a child of God who is being redeemed! He has marked her from the beginning of time. She has been set apart, chosen to be a story of His grace. As my dear friend says, "Nothing is wasted". NOTHING. Not even her painful, sinful, heart-wrenching abandonment. God is redeeming this child in mighty ways and He wants the world to see how beautiful and loving Christ is, through the adoption of this child, and through the miracles we are witnessing right before our eyes. What an honor and privilege for Emily Hope. We long for the day we can tell her how God has deemed her an important instrument in His story. We may look at her story as one that is sad and broken and it certainly is, from our perspective. But God is so much bigger than her circumstances. He is taking the disgusting muck of her circumstances and powerfully transforming her life to make it an example of his redemption for us on the cross. Emily Hope, you are one blessed girl to be a mighty story for Christ. Furthermore, you are forever His child. He has made that so clear already and there is no greater blessing than that, sister.
Adoption is redemption. It is a beautiful story and picture of our abandonment because of sin and Christ's loving act to redeem us by paying the ultimate price... suffering death on the cross and separation from His Father. I pray that every time you see Emily's eyes that you are reminded of what Christ has done for us. Let her life tell the beautiful story of who our precious savior is.
Isn't she a total CUTIE PIE?! Eeeeeeeeeek!
Her little face makes my heart smile. She is beautiful. What a wonderdul blessing.
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