2 Flowers

Our boys father died this week.  He has been sick with AIDS for quite some time and on Thursday morning, he lost the fight.  38 years old.  Their mother already died from AIDS.  These boys have no earthly, biological parents left.  This is where our amazing, Heavenly Father comes in.

John 14:18
"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."

When Jesus came to this earth and completed His work on the cross, and returned to His Father, He did not truly leave us.  He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, He who lives inside of us, our Helper.  He knew we couldn't live this life without Him.  In this verse, He is promising His continued care of  his disciples.
When we choose to trust in God, we are adopted into His family, He becomes our Heavenly Father and He will NEVER leave us.  Just as God's heart is directed towards "orphans", those who do not believe in Him, we believe God want us to have a heart for "orphans", the fatherless.

"The deepest and strongest foundation for adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans.  And this act is not part of his ordinary providence in the world; it is at the heart of the Gospel."  John Piper

I know I am glad God adopted me into His family, that I get to feel His amazing grace in my life everyday.  He is a Father who is constant, forgiving, patient, and loving.  Even the best earthly fathers can't be this all the time.

It is because of this acknowledgment of what He has done for us and how He continues to live inside of us, we felt the call to adopt.  We hope and pray that our new sons will come to know His love for them, that our adoption of them is not of us, but simply a reflection of God in us.

Yesterday, we attended the burial of their earthly father.  My husband was asked by the family to lay two flowers on his grave in honor of his two sons he has left behind, who will now have a new earthly father in my husband.  wow.

We want you all to know this isn't easy on us. Our family is going to change dramatically pretty soon.    There will be a lot of adjustments and trying times as we go from a family of 4 to a family of 6.  But we also know that God will be with us as we obediently answer the call to "bring justice to the fatherless". (Isaiah 1:17) We feel blessed to be apart of His work here on earth.

One funny story before I go, yesterday, as we were trying to find the burial site, my husband went through a yellow light and promptly got pulled over by the traffic cops.  ;) We were about to get a ticket and here in Zambia, you have to immediately drive to the police station and pay your ticket.  Well, we knew we would miss the burial if we had to do this, so we explained the situation.  We told her we are going to the burial of the father of the two boys we are trying to adopt and we really need to get there.  She looks in the back and says, "you have two children, why do you want more?"  I immediately replied, "these boys have lost their mom and now their dad, they have no one, and we believe God calls us to take care of the orphans".  She went and talked to her supervisor and let us go.

A more specific update coming soon!  We are so close!