Wait – 7?? Yep. God took us from six to seven this year. We can’t believe it either.

Here we are, on Asa’s Senior Night for just before his final home soccer game for York College.

The adoption won’t be final until sometime in the new year, but we’re well on our way. You can expect precious pictures of our Bonus Boy on adoption day in a few months.

What have I learned this year? I’ve learned that I should never make plans. Be kind of organized and maybe have a casserole in the freezer. But don’t make plans. GOD MAKES PLANS. Then He prepares us, equips us, and provides for us as He carries out His perfect plans.

We weren’t even looking to provide foster care, much less adopt. Indeed, I had all kinds of other plans for our lives in the next few years…but fostering? Adopting? Not even a blip on my radar.

Trusting God, though? Listening? Obeying and walking in the path He paves? That’s where we’ve been focused. We’ve been asking God to show us what it really means to love our neighbor…

As our hearts had opened to people in our community who needed support through special struggles, we became friends with Bonus Boy’s birth mom. When we discovered one night last spring that the little guy needed a temporary place to live, we prayed. God told us yes, so Bonus Boy moved in within just a few hours of our finding out about the need. This huge life change happened exactly that fast – with less than a day’s notice. But God knew all along.

Fostering turned into the need for adoption. And now here we are. We’re learning about God’s faithfulness and love in ways we never knew. This is the best gift of all.

I pray that as you celebrate Christmas and look back on 2018, you are filled with JOY as you see all the ways God stretched, molded, challenged, grew, and loved you this year. As the year ends, we hope to be more like Jesus than we were at the beginning.

From our family to yours – Merry Christmas. I can’t wait to learn what’s in store for 2019.