Dedication Sunday-September 14, 2008

Proverbs 3:5-6-

"Trust the Lord your God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

 This is the verse we chose for Andrew's dedication. It is also my life verse. I had started doing a word study in the Bible to choose a verse. This verse, however seemed perfect to both Kevin and I. We know there are many others that are appropriate for the occasion but this seemed so right and the one that God, our Father, chose for him. 

This moment has been ordained from the beginning of time. God had his perfect plans for each of us. His plan for Kevin and I started long before we even began the adoption process. He chose us as His children long ago and we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. He chose for both of us to spend time on the mission field where we developed a heart for those who do not know Him in other countries. When I had prayed for a husband, I prayed for a man with a heart after God's heart and a heart for missions. I was blessed with a man with far more than that. He picked the perfect one for me. He is a great father, my best friend, my soul mate. We were friends for 1 1/2 years before we began to date and were married a year later. At our church, we have to go to a marriage class before we can be married at Westover. We were assigned a mentor couple that we met with to discuss different areas about marriage. God knew then that we would be adopting from China. Our mentor couple was David and Elizabeth Chen. They grew up in China! They have been so excited for us and even prayed with Andrew in Chinese when we returned home! We have another couple, Jamie and Karen, in our small group who are in the process of adopting from China through the same agency we used. God as also placed many people from our church in our path there that have adopted from China, Korea, and Guatemala. 

He is such an awesome God and we are so blessed. Please forgive me for being so lengthy. We waited so long for this day to come. Andrew has been with us for almost 6 months now! Our pastor and his wife wrote a recommendation for us when we were going through the mountain of paperwork for our dossier so it was extra special that he was there to pray for him at his dedication! Unfortunately, Andrew wouldn't let him hold him. He's gone to him before but not this time. Andrew pointed at the big screen in the sanctuary when he saw himself up there. He also clapped his hands above his head when we walked off the stage (everyone else was clapping for us).

We had my parents and Kevin's, aunt's and uncle's, a nephew, cousins and friends all there for the happy event. We later celebrated with lunch at Elroy and Nancy's. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I had made a train cake with Nancy and Kris's help to decorate. Andrew loved it! So did the other kids! 

I cannot even begin to state all that is on my heart and how blessed we are. I know this has been so long but I had to share how God had orchestrated this moment from the very beginning. I have tears of joy right now as I think about it all. Thanks for allowing me to be so verbose!