Here's something the Lord revealed to me as we have been waiting to adopt Amanda. Ephesians 1:5 says He knew us before the foundation of the world and predestined us to be adopted into His family (below). In the same way, Amanda has no idea who we are but we have adopted her in our hearts for many months. And in His wisdom, He redemptively planned for her to become part of our family. Isn't that amazing? What an awesome God we have!
Ephesians 1:4-6 (New King James Version)
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Meet Amanda Grace Benson
This is Xue Ru soon to be called Amanda. We're big about the meaning of names around here and picked Amanda before we knew what it meant. It means "worthy of love". Isn't that sooo appropriate?
Amanda was born in May, 2007, so she's a two year old already. She resides in the Xuchang Social Welfare Institute which is just a fancy way of saying she's in an orphanage. Through connections on the web, her orphanage seems to be a place where the children are well cared for and loved. This is from people who have adopted from there in the past year.
Xuchang is located in Henan province south of Bejing. It's light blue on the eastern side of the map. At almost 100 million people, if it were its own country, it would be the twelfth most populous, just behind Mexico. Henan is traditionally regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Our adoption agency has started working there in order to help orphans get registered to be adopted into families and to help the orphans left behind. Because of their efforts, children like Amanda are able to know the love of a familiy.
We waited 2 1/2 years from application to placement for Amanda and are thrilled she gets to be a part of our family. When they called and told us we had a little girl waiting for a family, we were in denial. We still have been a bit, but this past week, we got the official paperwork that says we are accepted by the Chinese government to adopt Amanda. We are just now waiting for final travel approval and then it's book tickets time, Brett's flying to China!
Amanda was born in May, 2007, so she's a two year old already. She resides in the Xuchang Social Welfare Institute which is just a fancy way of saying she's in an orphanage. Through connections on the web, her orphanage seems to be a place where the children are well cared for and loved. This is from people who have adopted from there in the past year.
Xuchang is located in Henan province south of Bejing. It's light blue on the eastern side of the map. At almost 100 million people, if it were its own country, it would be the twelfth most populous, just behind Mexico. Henan is traditionally regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Our adoption agency has started working there in order to help orphans get registered to be adopted into families and to help the orphans left behind. Because of their efforts, children like Amanda are able to know the love of a familiy.
We waited 2 1/2 years from application to placement for Amanda and are thrilled she gets to be a part of our family. When they called and told us we had a little girl waiting for a family, we were in denial. We still have been a bit, but this past week, we got the official paperwork that says we are accepted by the Chinese government to adopt Amanda. We are just now waiting for final travel approval and then it's book tickets time, Brett's flying to China!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
1995, Shenyang China
The year was 1995 and Brett and I were about to celebrate our one year anniversary. We were in Shenyang, China on a prayer journey. We were praying for the people of China and God spoke to us. "Your daughter is out there." At that point, we knew we were to adopt from China. We weren't yet old enough. We were 5 years away from the required age of 30 in order to adopt from China. By the time we were eligible, we were pregnant with our first child, so, we put it on the back burner and went on with our lives always carrying this thought of a daughter in China.
Fast forward to August 2006. We now had three boys, the youngest of whom was about to turn 2. I, Beth, started counting four children when we were ready to go home from church. In my mind, there was a fourth child missing. I thought it was God's way of letting me know there was a fourth child coming. I thought "we're going to have a surprise pregnancy". Then a new family joined our church and sat in front of us. They filed in with three biological sons with the youngest being a Chinese daughter. God spoke to me and said "that's what your family will look like".
I (Beth) spoke to Brett and brought up the idea of adopting a daughter from China. He didn't even have to think about it and said and enthusiastic "yes!". His heart has always been toward adoption because it's our Father's heart too. So, in September, we started looking into adoption agencies.
The thing we now know is that at the very time God was speaking to our hearts that now was the time to adopt, Amanda was being conceived. He knew that there was a little girl whom to no fault of her own, was going to be abandoned. She would need a family that would encourage the gifts that God had placed inside of her. And He was choosing us to be that family. So began a three year journey to adopt Amanda Grace XueRu Benson.
Fast forward to August 2006. We now had three boys, the youngest of whom was about to turn 2. I, Beth, started counting four children when we were ready to go home from church. In my mind, there was a fourth child missing. I thought it was God's way of letting me know there was a fourth child coming. I thought "we're going to have a surprise pregnancy". Then a new family joined our church and sat in front of us. They filed in with three biological sons with the youngest being a Chinese daughter. God spoke to me and said "that's what your family will look like".
I (Beth) spoke to Brett and brought up the idea of adopting a daughter from China. He didn't even have to think about it and said and enthusiastic "yes!". His heart has always been toward adoption because it's our Father's heart too. So, in September, we started looking into adoption agencies.
The thing we now know is that at the very time God was speaking to our hearts that now was the time to adopt, Amanda was being conceived. He knew that there was a little girl whom to no fault of her own, was going to be abandoned. She would need a family that would encourage the gifts that God had placed inside of her. And He was choosing us to be that family. So began a three year journey to adopt Amanda Grace XueRu Benson.
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