Beauty From Ashes

It's been almost 3 weeks since little Ru went to be with Jesus. This road has been a bit bumpy but we consider it a privilege to have been chosen for this journey. The Lord has already shown great things through His calling for us to be Ru's parents from afar. She will always hold a special place in our hearts. I expect the sad moments will continue to arise when we hear a certain song, land on that dreaded date each year, hear about babies who share her story. We wouldn't trade one minute. God's plan for us is perfect and we are beyond grateful to be right where we are, amidst His amazing story of grace.

God is faithful in His plan. He provides a continuous occurrence of miracles in our lives. We don't stop here, in the midst of grieving a loss. We don't quit because things got hard. We don't close the book on caring for orphans, or ignore the next chapter. No, we press on in the fight to spread His gospel and love the least of these as He commands. He's no less faithful today than He was yesterday. He continues to provide and we will walk wherever He leads us. As we turn the page, while never forgetting Ru, we look forward to what God has prepared next. He is already revealing the next chapter in our story and we foresee beauty coming from ashes.

We can not imagine a more beautiful way to honor Ru's life than to fight for another precious child who has been left to fend for himself. We are thankful God calls us to love these vulnerable children. We have a home and plenty of love to share. There is a need and we are available. Furthermore, our deepest desire is for our life story to tell God's story of redemptive love. Jesus willingly sacrificed everything so that we, as orphans, could be eternally united with our adoptive Father in heaven. We pray that our story of earthly adoption would always point to the gospel, God's story of eternal, heavenly adoption.

We are excited to introduce the newest addition to our family... Samuel Martin Loman!

Samuel means "God has heard" (yes, He has). And Martin is Seamus' middle name. Chosen for his father's namesake, he will know he is loved. :) We submitted a letter of intent to adopt this little sweetie and China has granted us pre-approval. He is almost a year old and lives at an orphanage in Lianyungang City which is on the east coast of China, just north of Shanghai. He has a congenital deformity of the left arm. We believe he is otherwise healthy but thorough medical information is limited until he comes home.

Because we had the first half of our adoption expedited (for Ru), we are that far along for Samuel. Our home study is complete and we have immigration approval. This progress absolutely carries over for any child we choose to pursue. Because of this scenario, Samuel won't have to wait an entire year for us to get to him! We are hoping to scoop him up within 4-6 months from now. Also, the money we've invested in Ru's adoption can carry over for this adoption. Phew!

Needless to say, we are thrilled to be adding a son to our family. You can imagine how excited our kids are, especially the boys. That's a lot of stinky socks, y'all! We will continue to keep you updated. Your prayers are no less coveted now than they were before. Here we go again...