Celebrating Our Gift

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD.  For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." -1Samuel 1:27-28

We dedicated our first two sons to the Lord and had always planned to do the same when things with Joshua became final. With plans to do so and putting a date on the calendar after the adoption was final in November, some of our closest church friends decided they wanted to be a part of this celebration and shower us with the blessings of an adoption party along with our dedication service. This was such a gift to us, as we were able to hold this special event at our church and celebrate with many of the people that have prayed for us through this adoption journey. To top it all off, these women did all the decorating, prepared the desserts and gifted us with some of the most memorable "pieces" that I will cherish for years to come... and one day Joshua will also be very thankful for the blessings that this celebration gave us. 

Our dear and talented friend Sarah Grace took all of these pictures as well, another priceless gift!

Thank you to our friend David for leading us in worship and for his special gift of "Joshua 1:9" that will be a song we cherish and hold dear

Joshua's Godparents

I truly appreciate gift that this series of pictures is... it melts my heart to know that he knows who his mommy is!

My side of the family (minus Mike and Lauren)

Jeff's side of the family

The Party

So many delicious cupcakes

 

In our post about our new home, you may have seen this great painting in Joshua's room. As a gift to us, our dear friend Amanda painted this tree and inscribed Romans 8:28 at the bottom, and then had each guest at the celebration put their thumbprint as the leaves. She recorded each person's name by their print and this now holds a special place in Joshua's room, a piece of art we will admire forever. The names on this tree are those of so many that have prayed for Joshua and our family throughout this adoption process. I was even gifted with the stamp pads and marker so that I could continue to add thumbprints as friends and family that couldn't attend that day visit our home. I thought this was the most incredible idea!

 

 Logan adding his

Joshua's is in the middle, a heart cut out with his initials

This beautiful piece also adorns one of the walls in his sweet room. This "Adoption Creed" was a gift from Jeremy and Laurie and Jeremy's parents, and the words are also in the video below. I had never seen this before and the words are so true and perfect for what adoption means.

 

This video was shown that day and for those of you that couldn't make it, please enjoy. I've watched it over and over and there is no doubt that this is one very loved little boy! 

Thank you to all of our friends that helped make that day so special. I cannot give enough thanks for their tireless efforts to plan a perfect celebration with such beautiful details and an amazing amount of love. To top it all of, last week we received a scrapbook, totally filled with letters from dedication guests, pictures from our special day and notes and mementos from the service that was held... a book that Joshua will be able to look at for many years to come. I pray it will bring him peace and encouragement as he grows into the man God put him in our family to become. 

To each person that attended that evening and my family that came in from New York, we are so grateful for each of you! If you couldn't be there, we missed you and we are still so grateful for the role you play in our lives and for the prayers you have lifted on our behalf through the last 18 months. God is so good!

New Year, New Home

January brought LOTS of changes for our family! I'm going to forego posting about all of our Christmas fun because I'd rather talk about this and get caught up.

To start things off, we've moved! We closed on our new house on Jan 5 and officially became landlords of our old house the following weekend, January 15th. Between Jan 5 and Joshua's dedication on the 21st, I was one BUSY mama! We painted, unpacked, organized and decorated and I don't remember sleeping too much during those first two weeks in this new house! It was great though, because when family came to town for the big celebration weekend, the house was done and we were settled. After the dedication weekend, I think I lost some adrenaline and have just recently found the time to finish some smaller projects. :-)

Here are some pictures of our new house, per request of many friends and family!

What you see when you enter

Dining room

Dining from Kitchen

An actual laundry "room"

(Big improvement from the "space" we had in the old place)

At the back of the laundry room, this staircase leads to a framed but unfinished bonus space. This will be a few years out, but I envision it to be a great place where my boys can go be boys and I can courageously enter for cleaning purposes when needed! :-)

Logan and Ryan's room

Joshua's Room

A special gift from Aunt Kelley at Christmas

Joshua means "God Rescues"

The fourth bedroom

Playroom/Guest Room

Logan spends his "rest" time in here most days

This extra "room" and the bonus room upstairs are what sold me on this house! I love this screened in porch and having a place to relax while my boys play in our much larger yard. I have had many quiet times in this space, held prayer meetings and look forward to this space being used in so many ways through the years. The best part... the sellers agreed to leave us all the furnishings! That's what I call a deal!

That's the new place... we're thrilled with it, have done a lot of entertaining already and every day I'm more and more thrilled with God's gift of this home. It's not really bigger than our old house (with the exception of the porch) but the set-up and use of space is so much better suited for our family's needs and has made my life as a mother so much easier. SO THANKFUL!