Welcome to the Family!

After the last grandchild on my husband's side of the family was born 11 years ago, we've added two more grandchildren to the number - making #18 and #19!!  T & J were adopted into the family by Joe's sister and our brother-in-law last Friday.

Although their three children are grown and two are married and have children, my brother and sister-in-law felt like they could make a difference in the lives of children. They moved to Tipton Home and became full-time houseparents to a group of little girls.  And what a difference they've made!

Two of these little girls were able to be adopted by them, so are now a part of our family forever! We're all so excited to have them in our lives!

These special necklaces were a gift from their new siblings.  A sweet keepsake of this special time!

We decided to get each of them a piggy bank....or an ice cream bank, and.....

....a cupcake bank.  And, to get a head start, we added a little cash to the banks.

Sunday we had lots of snow (for southwest Oklahoma, anyway), so our regular worship services were canceled.

We already had a family meal planned for that day at noon, so everyone just stayed around afterwards for a family worship time together, followed by presents for the girls, then play time in the snow.

What a great day of worship and celebrating! A cold, winter's day, made warmer by the gift of love!

Adoption

In the past week two families we know have been blessed by adopting a baby.  After waiting for approximately a year, their longing to have a child has been fulfilled.  God has blessed our friends and God has blessed this little boy and little girl each with families and extended families and friends that love them tons already.

When a woman is expecting a child, the nine month wait for she and her husband is spent preparing for the baby and attending doctor's appointments.  Preparation includes financial responsibility, insurance, and making sure everything is ready when the baby arrives.  When adopting a child, the preparation is even more intense.  In addition to getting the supplies ready for baby, there are also meetings with agencies, home visits with people from those agencies, negotiations, and often times a financial committment that is at times difficult.  There may also be conversations with the babies' biological family and doctors visits, along with the negotiations.  Either way, there is a loving couple is anxiously awaiting the birth of their child.

Child birth is wonderful.  There's nothing quite like becoming a parent.  I've heard that there's nothing like becoming a grandparent, either!  I'll know about that some day. But, there's something even more special about an adoption.  I think it's because it's because, with so many abortions all over the world, an adoption is shows that a child was given life - given an opportunity to live, to have parents and grandparents, and given the opportunity to grow up and be part of a family.  Abortion takes all of that away.  It's heartbreaking to think of that when so many families are waiting for and longing for a child.

Adoption is special.  God adopted Christians.  He decided before the beginning of the world that all Christians would be His and that His own Son would be the means of the adoption process.  Read here what Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesians:

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:4-8

As Christians, we are adopted as God's sons (and daughters!) through Jesus Christ.  This has been God's Will for all of time.

Yes, there is something special about adoption.  A baby is given an opportunity to live and not perish.  In our spiritual adoption, we also are given the opportunity to live forever in eternity with God and not perish.

Thank you, God, for adoption and for the hope it gives us all.   On this Gratituesday, I am grateful for adoption - both physical adoption, and spiritual.

To see what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers.