Why "Eight Is Not Enough"?
When we were younger, there was a television sitcom that was called "Eight is Enough". The television watching world was entertained with the thought of a family with eight children. Most of us were shocked at the prospect of such a large family- myself included! Then ever so slowly, God began to work on our hearts, until we surrendered to Him all of our lives- yes even gave Him sovereign control over the size of our family and He has blessed us immeasurably, with eight biological children. Each of these children have been an amazing gift to us and we cherish each of them. And we praised God for them and felt to ourselves "eight is enough" - at least for a time.
Then God began to stir our hearts. It was as if He spoke to say to us "these 8 precious children I have given to you, but what have you given to my orphans in return?" A burden began to build on our hearts to adopt. We knew that for us God still had other plans for us as parents if we would be faithful to His calling- that eight is not enough. And so, we followed this call to adopted and He has continued to blessed us through adoption. First a sibling group of three from Soacha, Colombia. They joined our family in November, 2008. In May 2010, we adopted twin infants from Texas. In September of 2012 we were privileged to return to Colombia and adopt a sibling group of two from Cali. At this time, we anxiously wait for our travel date to depart for China where a very special girl and boy wait for their forever family. By the time they all reach adulthood, we will have had the amazing privilege to be parents of children in our home for a half century. Our life is full beyond measure, beyond our wildest expectations, yes even beyond anything we could have ever hoped. Truly, eight is not enough. As of late we have wondered if God's plan for us as parents all along was not for eight children, but rather eight plus eight. Our heavenly Father knows and His word assures us "I know the plans I have made for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you." We trust He knows the number of His children He wants us to love and to nurture on His behalf, and whether that is eight or eighty times eight we stand ready and say speak Lord, your servants are listening and are prepared to be father and mother to your fatherless on earth.
Together at Last
We were finally able to bring everyone together today. We discharged Isaiah from the hospital today at around 12:30. It was such a relief to get him in our arms to stay. As we received our shower of blessings for which we had prayed, San Antonio received so much rain we were experiencing flash floods all morning. All this rain did nothing to dampen our spirits- God has given us the desire of our hearts and blessed us with these two beautiful babies.
When we got back to my brothers house, we had the most unexpected experience. Makenzie's entire continence changed once she heard her brother cry out the first time. Up to this time we had not seen her smile yet. I know it sounds difficult to believe, but she has smiled almost constantly since we brought Isaiah home. She now has the same peaceful expressions on her face as we had come to expect from our 8 biological babies. She has also visibly calmed down and is more relaxed and sleeping better. Every time we lay them down next to one and other she flails her arms around until she touches him- then she just lays still with her arm on him. This is the most amazing response we have ever seen in with babies. Very touching and heart warming.
We do covet your prayers tonight. We figured out late today that there is a mix up somewhere with our paper work. Our state for some reason, thinks this is a foster arrangement rather than an adoption. Everyone involved will begin on Monday to straighten this mess out. Isaiah's paperwork should begin processing on Monday also. We covet your prayers for God to intervene and give wisdom for this to be resolved quickly. We have people advocating for us in our state and TX, and trust that God will work all this out together for good according to His perfect will.
Here are our "reunion" pictures.
God Bless.
Jim and Betty
3 comments:
How precious... at a young age big sis is looking out for her lil brother... it's amazing at her response... the touch, the cry of the brother comforts her... there's a sermon somewhere in that, ya know! God bless all of you! Love the pics and the updates!
The are beautiful! What an amazing story...Isn't God so neat?! Many blessings and we will be praying for you all!
They're beautiful and you two don't look too tired yet!
We're praying and look forward to having McKenzie and Isaiah join us for our Sunday meetings!
Oreo says Hi
The Zacharys
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