Looking back, I'm in awe of how He has orchestrated this journey.
I sure wouldn't have written it this way.
If it was my job to write it all out,
It would have been simple and easy.
But that's not how God works in all of our lives.
Oh but He is so very patient with us!
8 months before Tessa was born,
There was a newborn baby boy born in another part of China.
God was so creative when He designed him.
But to his birth parents, it was overwhelming.
In the broken, He works. He worked to have him placed in a caring foster home as he waits...
A few months before we traveled to go bring Tessa home in 2014,
We saw this picture.
I didn't even see his chair... I saw his JOY!
A foster brother of Tessa's needed a pediatric wheelchair, the request went out from their foster home.
We live very close to Wheels For The World, and made some phone calls.
Then a friend (who knew nothing about this request), came up to me at a homeschool meeting...
She said she was supposed to give me funds to go towards a medical need at our daughter's foster home!!
Supplied!!! These funds paid for a custom pediatric chair for him and was delivered in a matter of weeks.
We got to visit the foster home and got to see this miracle chair.
But we didn't just get to see this special chair.
We got to see where miracles happen.
Where love is poured out unconditionally.
Our Tessa Joy introduced us to her buddy...
And our lives will never be the same.
This moment.
It's where I first laid eyes on him.
I'm holding my camera. He is holding his.
This room didn't have space for him to use his chair, but that didn't hold him back!
And then it was time to sing with friends...
He and Tessa just hugged and hugged
And hugged...
And hugged...
And some adjustments needed to be made to her hair bow ;)
And that joy just pours out of him!!!
At snack time Tessa got to pass out the plates...
It's these pictures that Tessa goes back through often,
Telling me the stories in her words.
But mostly she asks me...
"Momma, Hudsa still no mommy daddy? Hudsa still in Chinese, no famul?"
So we pray. She prays.
For years.
3 years of praying.
Our family's prayer for him has always been the same...
That he would be placed in a Jesus-loving family.
That his life would be a testimony of God's goodness and redemption.
That he would glorify God with his life.
And then our prayer changed a bit.
Would God place him in our family?
We just said yes.
But this was a loooong yes.
Month after month. Nothing.
No answers on why his file in country was taking so long.
So we just kept praying.
The same prayer and thensome!
And we trusted God with His timeline.
Look what He has ALREADY done in our family!!!
Several months ago we got some tough news from our agency.
The answer was no.
The door looked pretty darn closed.
His file went to a different COUNTRY.
Days of deep breathing.
Going back to Truth.
Phil 4:8 "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is just, whatever is lovely...think about these things"
This verse.
It's gone with me through so many journeys. Always reminding me to focus on GOOD!!
What we know is TRUE, is that he is LOVED BY HIS CREATOR!
What is true is that God desires to see him choose Jesus, to choose a relationship with Him!
So even with this tough news earlier this year,
We trusted His plan for him.
We know that HE KNOWS.
HE IS NOT FORGOTTEN!
So in the middle of this time of "no"...
feeling heartbroken... but still trusting Him...
I parked across from this car.
I think I might have laughed out loud a bit.
Choosing to feel His joy.
A dear friend would pour Truth into me.
And another. And another.
Then 2 weeks later...
this car. this Truth. Again. Because I needed the reminder.
It was almost humorous how often I would see his name!
While I was sewing. When the Costco magazine showed up with "miracle of the Hudson" article.
When a local work truck would pull up next to me at a light and the company was his name.
When I got an email from a publisher who was focusing on celebrating the life of Hudson Taylor.
When I gave a tour of a 4th grade classroom to a family and next to me on the wall was the focus of Hudson Taylor's heart for Asia.
Then a few weeks ago we were driving past the airport...
It's a trigger for Tessa to talk about coming home from China and how her "famul" was waiting for her.
But this day she asked yet again "mommy, Hudsa still wait his mommy daddy? Still wait his famul?
Why he wait soooo long? Hudsa be in my famul? I ask Jesus."
Gulp. My heart just broke again. Because I don't have the answers. I don't know why.
But YESSSSS we can pray.
And that's exactly what she did. Right there.
Her prayer is heard. Every. Single. Time.
THAT VERY NIGHT OUR WORLD GOT ROCKED.
The details of that night I will never forget.
Only the Lord did this.
And He used His people!!!!
By the next morning we had news we sure didn't see coming!!
3 days after that we had locked in to his file!!!
What the what?!?!?!??!
A handful of days later we were told...
HE IS YOUR SON!!!!!!!!
Our heads are spinning.
Our hearts are filled with awe.
Because ONLY GOD could write a journey like this.
And He is still writing!!
We had our home study ready.
But it expires this week.
So we have to start over.
No discounts on fees :(
Ohhhh those crazy fees!
But we trust Him!!
He provided every. single. dollar. we needed to bring home Tessa!
We trust he will provide to bring Hudson home too.
Hudson will be SIX soon!!
He has waited sooooo long already.
We will be going through our home study & dossier paperwork as fast as humanly possible.
But those fees.
If you feel you want to be a part of bringing Hudson home by giving (tax deductible) towards the fees we would be oh so grateful!!!!
ANY AMOUNT WOULD BE A BLESSING!
(And you can even stay anonymous)
You can check out our AdoptTogether profile ...HERE
The faster we can get him home,
The faster he can see the specialists that have great hope for him through surgeries and therapies.
Because he is one of the oldest precious ones at the foster home,
he has seen sooooo many of his friends leave to go home to their forever families.
It hurts my heart that he still will have to wait many more months.
But we know He will give him patience.
We know He will comfort him like He has for six years.
We know He is preparing His heart.
Will you pray for our Hudson?
Will you celebrate this miracle with us?
YOU are a part of his new community!!
Let's bring Hudson home SOON!!!!
