Live it Well

This is one of my very favorite songs right now. Not only does it remind me of our adoption journey; it's also a good reminder of how precious and short life is here on earth.

Live it Well By Switchfoot

[Chorus}

Life is short; I wanna live it well

One life, one STORY to tell
Life is short; I wanna live it well
And you’re the one I’m living for
Awaken all my soul
Every breath that you take is a miracle
Life is short; I wanna live it well, yeah

Here is the link to the whole video

I've been thinking about this post for awhile and how to put it into words.  

Stories inspire me.  Real life stories.  Whether it's stories I can personally relate to about adoption, a story from the Bible, or maybe its something completely random that pulls me in for one reason or another.  Stories challenge me.  They encourage me.  And then sometimes stories make me sad.  Sad because it's not always what you want to hear, or does not have the best ending in my opinion.  Truthfully though, Gods ways are so much bigger than our own and its just not humanly possible to understand why things work out the way they do.  Learning what I have over the past several years, I'm so glad that GOD is in control and not me.  Even with the parts of my story that I have struggled with the most, God is always good and he makes beauty from ashes.

November is Adoption Awareness month so I want to take some time to not only shed a little more light on our story so far; but also share a few other stories who have inspired us along the way.  This post would seriously be a mile long, if I could mention everyone.  Videos are powerful and while I love to read,  I'm also very visual so videos that tell a story really pierce straight to my heart.  I'm sharing a couple of those a little further down.

When Tyler and I were praying constantly about adopting a child with down syndrome, there were so many stories that spoke to us.  If it were not for those stories, those blog posts, those videos, etc;  We might not have taken such a HUGE leap of faith and said YES.  I believe God placed all those stories in our path for a reason.  Not only did I read their stories and follow them on social media, I reached out to several of them.  Now I feel so blessed to call them friends even though we may have never met in person. (not as of yet :)) We pray for, encourage each other and support one another.  Many of these families are miles and miles away from us but yet I still feel this connection with them that I just can't explain.  I'm so thankful for God linking us all in different ways.  

I saw a precious and raw video yesterday of a family doing just what we are about to do.  I had already been following their journey for quite some time so I was giddy with excitement once this video was ready.  They adopted a little boy from China who also has down syndrome.  This video is beautifully honest and captures very much how Tyler and I feel about this journey we are also embarking on.  It captures Gotcha Day which is the first day they meet their son; how much grief that day brings for the child leaving everything they have ever known.  I highly encourage you to watch it.  Ben's mom is hoping this video will reach thousands and praying it will plant seeds and hopefully more families will say Yes to God's call.  

Ben's Adoption Video

You will probably need more tissues for this next video.  This next video follows the JOY family. That's their last name.  How perfect, isn't it?  They adopted precious Mila from China and she also has down syndrome.  Again, another family I wish I could meet in person because I feel like we would just be the best of friends and our girls would have a ball playing together.  Here is their video.

Mila's Adoption Video 

I pray our story and these stories have inspired you in some way to take action.  Let's come together and support each other who are walking in this journey.  It's not an easy one, that is for sure.  Tyler and I know there will be bumps ahead.  But we also know the biggest blessings in life are hard.  God never promises us comfortable or easy; even in the most challenging of times, he can still bring us a peace that surpasses all understanding.  We hang on and hold tight to God's truths because that is what will get us through any day ahead.  He is the reason we are exactly where we are today.  We are beyond excited and cannot wait to get our precious Willow home. 

If caring for orphans is something God is very passionate about, then it's something I'm passionate about as well.  Here are just a handful of scriptures where God speaks about the taking care of the fatherless.

Psalm 68:5 “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.”

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Psalm 82:3 “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.”

Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”

This next verse used to make me feel uncomfortable because it was very convicting.  As I prayed this, it lead me to take action to the passion I have always had for children living without a family to call their own.  Have you ever prayed this prayer before?

Break my heart for what breaks yours.  Matthew 5:4

Be prepared for God to probably rock your world when you whole heartedly pray these words to him.  God is always working in us and through us.  He desires us to follow him and live our lives to our fullest potential according to his will, not our own.  

I would encourage you to pray this prayer and see what God says to you.  True Joy can only come after being broken for the things that break our Creators heart. Only he can fix it and then we can watch faithfully as he enfolds this beautiful story of our lives. 

Don't be afraid to say Yes to God's call. Be Bold. Be Brave.  Use the gifts the Lord has blessed you with to do more. Step outside your comfort zone.  Be humble and give God the Glory for it all.  

To close up my thoughts, I'm going back to the song and the journey that inspired this post to begin with.

"Life is short, I'm guna live it well." -Switchfoot