January 10 we celebrate Gotcha Day. We also call it Family Day. The day we went from being a family of 3 to 4. This year we remembered and told the story of the days leading up to Gotcha Day. Lia loves every detail and each year ask us to tell her the whole story again. Her story, our story. It's a beautiful and challenging story. Most stories are.
Before we were married Todd and I talked a lot about adoption. We hoped to grow our family through adoption and with biological children. After years of infertility and loss, we thought that perhaps God had always had that dream/desire in us because that is how our family would grow. How and what that looked like we had no idea. That season in our lives was difficult and stressful. We wrestled, cried a lot and grieved often. It was also a place where Jesus carried us, spoke to us through His word and brought us to a place of deep rest and hope.
In 2003 I went on a trip to China. We were actually trying to send a couple of the college students but due to school conflicts it wasn't going to work. So they said, "Hey, let's send Kim!" So I went. The trips purpose was to deliver Bibles to some of the underground house churches, meet with house church leaders and to spend a day at an orphanage loving on some babies. Every part of this trip was incredible. Challenging and incredible!
The day we spent at the orphanage was heartbreaking and wonderful. We helped feed the babies and toddlers and then played. We played a lot! We hugged and kissed and played. As I was hugging a sweet little girl named Ruthie (who I later found out was adopted by a family in Chicago) I felt the Lord say to me, "China will forever be part of your lives." Another thought quickly followed, "Our daughter is in China!"
I don't want to overthink or over-spiritualize this too much but look at this timeline:
January 2003: First trip to China. God spoke. Somewhere in China there was a woman who just found out that she will have a baby.
September 2003: A sweet baby girl is born in China. 4 days after her birth she is brought to a safe place where she was found and taken to a local orphanage. She was left with a note and a bag of rice.
November 2003: We submit our application to start the process with an adoption agency.
January 2004: We have our first home-study.
May 2004: Our mound of documents are sent off and logged in with the Chinese officials.
November 2004: The phone call. Your daughter, Meng-Yue, is in the Yi-Yang Children's Home near Changsha, China. She is beautiful and 13 months old. We receive our first picture.
January 2005: We travel to China to bring our daughter home.
God's heart and plan is all over this! Do you see it?!
Lia was meant to be with us and we with her. I love remembering each of these details because it reminds me of God's faithfulness, provision and His ability to lead us. Lia is our daughter. Fully. No doubt about it. Yes, she is Chinese, her birth parents make up who she is in her nature but she is our daughter and as our daughter, adopted into our family, she is loved, cared for, provided for. As her parents we protect her, teach her, train her. All the rights and privileges of being a Stewart are hers. Always.
All of this leads me to think about my own adoption. My adoption as a daughter of the King of Kings. Do I see God's hand and plan over my story?
Before we were married Todd and I talked a lot about adoption. We hoped to grow our family through adoption and with biological children. After years of infertility and loss, we thought that perhaps God had always had that dream/desire in us because that is how our family would grow. How and what that looked like we had no idea. That season in our lives was difficult and stressful. We wrestled, cried a lot and grieved often. It was also a place where Jesus carried us, spoke to us through His word and brought us to a place of deep rest and hope.
In 2003 I went on a trip to China. We were actually trying to send a couple of the college students but due to school conflicts it wasn't going to work. So they said, "Hey, let's send Kim!" So I went. The trips purpose was to deliver Bibles to some of the underground house churches, meet with house church leaders and to spend a day at an orphanage loving on some babies. Every part of this trip was incredible. Challenging and incredible!
The day we spent at the orphanage was heartbreaking and wonderful. We helped feed the babies and toddlers and then played. We played a lot! We hugged and kissed and played. As I was hugging a sweet little girl named Ruthie (who I later found out was adopted by a family in Chicago) I felt the Lord say to me, "China will forever be part of your lives." Another thought quickly followed, "Our daughter is in China!"
I don't want to overthink or over-spiritualize this too much but look at this timeline:
January 2003: First trip to China. God spoke. Somewhere in China there was a woman who just found out that she will have a baby.
September 2003: A sweet baby girl is born in China. 4 days after her birth she is brought to a safe place where she was found and taken to a local orphanage. She was left with a note and a bag of rice.
November 2003: We submit our application to start the process with an adoption agency.
January 2004: We have our first home-study.
May 2004: Our mound of documents are sent off and logged in with the Chinese officials.
November 2004: The phone call. Your daughter, Meng-Yue, is in the Yi-Yang Children's Home near Changsha, China. She is beautiful and 13 months old. We receive our first picture.
January 2005: We travel to China to bring our daughter home.
God's heart and plan is all over this! Do you see it?!
Lia was meant to be with us and we with her. I love remembering each of these details because it reminds me of God's faithfulness, provision and His ability to lead us. Lia is our daughter. Fully. No doubt about it. Yes, she is Chinese, her birth parents make up who she is in her nature but she is our daughter and as our daughter, adopted into our family, she is loved, cared for, provided for. As her parents we protect her, teach her, train her. All the rights and privileges of being a Stewart are hers. Always.
Ephesians 1:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[b] for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
From my mother's womb God knew me and thought of me and had a plan for me. I am not an accident. Some parts of my story are messy and broken and painful but God was weaving His grace and mercy through every detail to lead me to His glorious grace and kindness. And all the rights and privileges as a daughter of my Heavenly Father are mine.
Remembering my redemption story is important. Not just a little important. Every day I need to hear the Gospel. Just like Lia every year wants to hear the whole story again and again, I need to hear my story. My Jesus story. How I was lost and he found me! How I was dead in my sin and He made me alive in Christ! How I was without hope and He gave me purpose! My sins are forgiven. I am never alone. He will be with me always.
I am LOVED. No matter what! I am His!
Ephesians 1, the Message:
3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
This doesn't even scratch the surface. So much more can be said about this. The depths and magnitude of our position as sons and daughters is something to be explored every day in this life. Today my heart is bursting with Lia's gotcha story and my own gotcha story!
Our adoption is the highest expression of God’s love towards us.
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