Most Thankful...and Merry Christmas!

Wow! !woW! What a year 2011 has been for our family. Most incredibly, we can now say all three of our girls have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. My biggest prayer entering 2011 was that both Gabrielle and DanNi would give their hearts to Jesus in 2011. Thanks be to God, Gabrielle made that decision February 7^th and DanNi did May 7^th. They both followed Jesus’s example of baptism, making their faith public to our church family. I’ll never forget this…the first Wednesday after Gabrielle’s decision, she was running up to people shouting with a huge grin, “I’m a Christian now! I’m a Christian now!”

And since those dates….the questions have intensified, making me more thankful than ever for my own faith in the Lord. Here are a few of the questions our girls have asked this year:

*Why does my government hate girls?
*Why did my birthmother let me go?

 *Will I see my birthmother in heaven?

 *Does God have a voice?
*When we get to heaven, will we sing?
*Does my birthmother know who Jesus is?
*Why can’t their parents take care of them?
 * Why did God want me to be adopted?
*When we get to heaven, will we be able to see people on earth?

 *Why can’t people take Bibles into China?
*Does the government in America believe in Jesus?
*Does President Obama know Jesus?
*Why do some boys and girls not have enough food to eat?
*When will Jesus come back?

 *How can God know when Jesus will return, and Jesus not know? Isn’t He God, too?

And there are hundreds more…too many to count or list.

But questions like these make me most thankful for JESUS. I don’t even pretend to know these answers when my girls ask these questions. I try to point them to the Bible and reassure them that God loves them and has a plan for their lives….that they can tell God anything, any time. It’s okay to have questions and to not understand….We will never understand everything. That is part of the majesty and magnificence of His deity that commands our ultimate reverence. We can always trust that His plan is best…and that is hard to swallow when they know it includes some measure of suffering.

So, this Christmas is incredibly special for us….all three of our girls have the most precious gift ever given to all of humanity—JESUS. I cannot even fathom trying to navigate this life, much less this adoptive parenting thing, without Him.

He came to us as a babe, humbly in a manger, wrapped in cloths. His earthly father, Joseph, adopted Him in a sense….and later He would give His life, so we could be adopted into His eternal family. May you consider the birth of Jesus in a fresh, new way this Christmas as you ponder His marvelous love for you.                                              

                       Merry CHRISTmas!!!!!!