Naming our Boys!

So, thank you for making it through the first post in the new blog.

I plan to change the background shortly.

I would love now to introduce you to our boys and how God showed them to us and how He named them for us.

It's amazing when you take yourself out of the equation and allow God to do this thing.

But we never say that before we begin the journey, do we?

Only after when we have given up, given in, given our Father His job back.

No one can do it like He can.  Isn't that good news?  It sure is to me.  What a relief!

So we will start with the oldest of the two boys.

Zachary Taydan

Zachary means remembered by God.  Isn't that true?  Especially in the cause of the orphan.  God remembers each and every one.  It's up to us, the body of Christ to prove to them with our actions.

 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18 NKJV

Taydan- in my opinion,  is a neat story.
For years I have wanted to name a child Taydan.  After US of course!  (Tammy and Dan)
Every time another child was coming into our family, the name never seemed to work.
When I went to Name Zachary (which Dan did, but I was looking) I wanted to look up names that meant Cheeful becuase his picture oozes cheerfulness.  Along the bottom of the page, I saw it:  "Tayten"  PERFECT!

And for boy number 2!
Joshua Evan
If you are in my adoption circle (or close by) you know Valerie Rieben.
(http://www.fromthetrenchesofadoption.blogspot.com)
Valerie is a young adoptive mom of 10!  Yes, I said 10!  (All under 9, I think?)
Anyways, Valerie's first two adopted children (after having biological triplets)
have limb differences.  It is becuase of them Dan and I can see we can handle the limb differences Zachary and Joshua have.  So, if you know Val-then you know her son's names are Evan and Josh.  I texted Valerie to ask her for her blessing for the name, immediately she replied with an astounding YES!  She was honored and so were her children.  One of her children was extra touched and said he was really happy becuase two boys were getting a home, "becuase of him."  I cried. 
So, without further adieu, here are our newest [missing] members:

In case I forgot to add:  Zachary is 7 and is 1.5 months younger than Alexander.  Joshua is 4 and is 5 months older than Gage.

New Blog/New Members

Welcome to the new blog.  The name isn't that new really, I've had it for a few years, I think.  I just never posted here. 
I didn't like the way Wor**ress changed the way you write on the blog.
So here we are.  WELCOME!

I will do my very best to update regularly.  I know, I know, I've said that BEFORE.  Haven't we all?  ;)

So, now the business it out of the way-let's talk adoption.

Dan and I announced in December we planned to adopt "Cookie" a beautiful 9 year old girl in China.  We thought she was who God had kept just for our family.  Best laid plans, I suppose, right?  We had her paperwork redy to send to the agency, but our hearts were not settled.  So we waited.  We tried other children with our original agency.  NOTHING.  Our hearts weren't sitting right.  We just couldn't move on.

So we called the whole thing off and backed up. 

It wasn't long after that a previous agency we were talking with in November called us with the file of a little girl.

Nope.  Not her. 

We believed in our hearts our missing link was a boy with limb differences.

We also believed, from a sermon preached by our wonderful Pastor back in December our boy would be named, "John". 

Easy right?  Find a boy named John and go.

Best laid plans, right?

By now we were at least on the right track, we had the file with an even different agency.  One we also spoke with in November, also not the agency we thought we would be working with.  The file was of an 8 year old boy with limb differences.  He could be him? 

The next day I was emailing Annie from Lifeline.  She is amazing.  I told her we felt we were waiting for a boy with limb differences.  In less than 2 minutes (or maybe one?)  she replied with a name.  So I check him out. 
It was him. 
The next Dziagwa.

She sent his file, along with some pictures, and the kids and I watched the videos.  I waited for Dan to review the file.

While the kids and I are checking Boy 1 out, she sends another file.

Uh oh. 

We most certainly were NOT supposed to adopt TWO BOYS.  Afterall, our plans were 4 boys and 2 girls total in our family.

Best laid plans, right?

So, she sends more pictures of boy 2.  I save the file for Dan to review while the kids and I are watching the videos.

We are in love.

Figuring we would have to pick just one, Dan reviewed the files that night.  He looks at me and says,
"Both."
Me:  "Both?"
Him:  "Both."
Me:  "Both."

Now we were elated with excitement.  We had the prayer cards for both boys I had made up earlier. 
We prayed.  We knew. 
The next day we prayed some more.
We still knew.

I did not respond to the agency right away.  Mid-day I drafted an email and prayed over it before I sent it.  Begging God to NOT let this be our flesh again.  We were so over that. 

Much to my surprise, Annie, who normally responds in record time (5 minutes or less!) did NOT respond.
I was a little sad, and a little hopeful.  Our email had asked if we would be allowed to adopt both boys.  They do not live in the same province in China-we weren't sure if they allowed that. 

FINALLY Annie responds, telling me as our email had hit her inbox, she was on her knees praying the Lord would guide our family on the best decision.
HIS best laid plans.
The best kind.

So, yesterday we received pre-approval from China allowing us to proceed for BOTH boys.

Last night, we skyped with Dan's parents and "introduced" them to the boys and shared the videos and pictures with them.

More to come!

Stay tuned.