Mermaid jumps!

A bit of context before I have you gasping in glee.

Five months ago we welcomed home a little girl who could not climb into the car by herself. She did not have the muscle strength.

One hundred fifty days accomplish much.

Not only does she bound up into the car, but she does many things that were too hard for her to do before.

And why were they hard? Not because she was not capable. They were too hard because she had spent five years of her life in an orphanage where she didn't have the chance to grow and become in the same ways that a child living in a home and loving family do.

Her orphanage life? It was truly good, we believe. We saw with our own eyes the love and care the orphanage nannies and staff lavish on the children. We saw them genuinely joyful for Emma to have a family and they truly wanted to say goodbye. Emma was loved. She mattered to them.

And yet.

There is nothing like a home.

And a family.

One of the blessings of adopting an older child is the incredible opportunity to watch them literally blossom before your very eyes.

Emma has accomplished in months what babies take years to do! She is a living, walking, breathing testament to WHY God sets the lonely in families. WHY we need each other. WHY a family matters. WHY adoption means so much more.

We stand in complete awe at her. We are even more in awe of the Lord, who has done such great things.

Without Emma, we would not have seen the miracles we see every day unfolding right in front of us.

Us, so undeserving of this grace.

It is worth everything. And more.

See and rejoice with us! Look at our bathing, jumping, DIVING beauty!