A Note to Our Family & Friends

As we take off, we just have a few thoughts we wanted to share.
First off, we are so thankful that you have chosen to join us throughout this adoption process. You’ve wept with us when we’ve wept and rejoiced with us when we’ve rejoiced. You’ve supported us through your prayers, your encouraging words, and your wallets. We have been amazed to watch God work, not only in our family, but in the lives of all of you!

We are thrilled beyond words to be going to meet our son and bring him home to his family, his extended family, and his church family! Please trust us when we say that we are probably more anxious for you to meet him than you are! However, we want to be sensitive to what is best for him, particularly during the first few weeks home.

This is new to us. We’ve done some research, but we’ve never done this before. What we do know is that Isaiah needs to know who his family is, and be assured of our love for him and his place with us. We know this will take time, but we have been told by those who have “been there, done that” that these first few weeks are critical. And so, we’re going to pray for wisdom, and “play it by ear”. Our plan is to take the time needed to get over the jet-lag for us, help Isaiah get on Eastern Standard Time, help him get healthy, and begin adjusting to our new family structure.

So, that being said, we hope that you will be understanding to all of this. We’re not going to hide ourselves in a bomb shelter or anything ;o) but we’ll need some time. We don’t want to overwhelm him with crowds during this already scary time. And practically speaking, his little immune system is going to be stressed out, and he may not be able to fight off the virus you might be carrying. And he may be carrying something that you could get from him.

As we said, we are anxious for you to meet Isaiah and rejoice with us in knowing him. We just ask that if you want to visit once we get back home, that you please call first . . . and please be understanding if we need to tell you “no” for now.

As we go, we still are so appreciative of your continued prayer support. Here are a few specific prayer requests for this week.

• For our flight schedule with all of this nasty weather out east
• For Joey, Gracie, Madie and Joshua as they spend such a long time away from daddy & mommy
• For Grandma & Papaw McDaniel as they care for the children
• For health & safety for all of us involved
• For God to put Isaiah’s heart at peace, His peace that passes understanding
• For all of our donation-filled luggage to get there safe, relatively undamaged, and at the same time that we get there ;o)
• For all of us as we come home and transition into the family that God has made us