Mountains Moved

There has been no doubt that God moved our mountains to make Joshua part of our family.  

His hand has been so evident.

Yet, one of the most mind-blowing mountains He moved, I have not had the opportunity to share until now.

My daughter, Emma, traveled with us to China to adopt Lily almost 2 years ago.  

In front of New Hope Foundation a few weeks ago

The impact of that trip upon her heart has been immense.  She wholeheartedly embraced, supported, advocated for Luke...even calling a local car dealership to see if they would help us get a wheelchair-accessible van ready for him!  She grieved heavily when he went to be with the Lord.  She was cast down, but no destroyed.


 Her heart for the orphan continued to beat...and the Lord led her to Joshua.

And she prayed and prayed that he would become her brother.

And he did.

This is not new information on this blog.

But what I've not shared is that, had the Lord not intervened, she would not have been able to travel to bring Joshua home.  We all wanted so much for her to be able to come knowing her heart for orphans and the Lord's use of her to lead us to Joshua.

Yet, as Travel Approval got closer and closer and ticket prices continued to soar higher and higher, we had to tell her we did not think it was possible for her to come.  

in the trampoline with Joshua's foster brother

We simply had no money.  

No money. No ticket.  It was a very difficult piece of news for me to deliver as my heart longed for her to be able to go.

Once again, she prayed.  And an idea came to her mind:  she could fundraise through babysitting.

We supported the idea 100%, but let her know that the amount of time and the amount of money she would need (Lily's ticket, too, since Lily couldn't be left without one of the three of us) was more than she could raise by babysitting alone in the few weeks we had left.

Then, God moved.  Again.

In the 10 days before we left, God supplied every dollar she and Lily needed to be able to not only fly to China, but to cover the extra expenses they would incur.  

Every. Single. Penny.  Thousands of them. In less than 2 weeks time!

I've never seen anything like it before.  Anonymous donations.  Checks in the mail.  Envelopes of money being handed to us at church.  Anonymous amounts showing up at church.

I am not talking a small amount here.

I had been praying for months that God would supply all we need to  bring Joshua home.  I laid  down my desire for Emma to come, knowing she did not need to come.  

I also knew that money is the easiest thing for the Lord.  After all, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills!  But, I wanted His will.

We had told Emma we would know His answer by whether or not there was money for both Lily and Emma to come.

He said, "Yes."

To see a bit of what the Lord was doing in Emma's heart through this last trip, read her blog entry from yesterday. http://justalittlephotgraphy.blogspot.com/2012/08/changed.html

Emma playing basketball with Joshua's foster brothers

I am one thankful mama...thankful for Emma, thankful to the Lord for granting her the desire of her heart, thankful for the work that He alone is doing in her life, thankful for those who heeded His call to love on the orphan by supplying Emma the opportunity to go where He sends her.

In Him,