Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus - Reminiscing a year later....

Looking at this picture all I can think is how blessed I am that I get to be the wife of Daniel and the mother of Hannah, Benjamin, and Malachi!  These 4 people bring such joy to my life!  I can't imagine living life without them.  Yes, there are days where I am frustrated out of my mind by these cute, argumentative, bored, complaining, home-schooled kids.....but in moments like these none of that really matters.  All that matters is that God chose me to be the mother of these beautiful babies and I am thankful!  God has certainly brought Daniel and I on a grand adventure in our 11 years of marriage.  One that has caused us to completely trust in Him through the hard times, confusing times, and good times!!!  At this very moment last year I probably wasn't sleeping too much.  I was trying to figure out which path God was going to lead us down.  By this point I was ready to follow Him down whichever path He took us but my prayers were leaning toward the little heart baby that I had heard about only a week earlier.....

On August 24, 2012 at around 9AM I got the call we had been waiting on!!!  Leslie from our agency called and said, "well, we've talked about it and we feel your family would be the best fit for little "A" (she said his birth name)".  Oh this was such exciting news!!!  She said we could meet him the next day at his Foster Family's house!!  I immediately told the kids and they put on their "Big Brother" and "Big Sister" shirts.

Daniel and I both decided we liked the name Malachi!  We see our Malachi as God's Messenger to us that God is faithful and that we can trust Him!  It took us over 2 years to get a baby to come home and there was a lot of pain and sorrow in those two years, a lot of waiting, and a lot of trusting....but finally the day was here we got to meet our new little boy (we had seen him a few days before at a doctor visit but it was a very awkward day and so we didn't really dwell on him, hold him, or anything like that).  

We stayed at Dan and Nancy's (his wonderful foster parents) house for several hours, playing, feeding, and holding Malachi.  It was hard to leave him but we knew he would be home with us soon.  Just one BIG hurdle to jump....open heart surgery.  In just 2 days we would meet Dan, Nancy, and Malachi at the hospital for his surgery to repair Tetralogy of Fallot.  So many things to think about and so much to take in but bright and early Monday morning we were at the hospital.  I got to hold him before the surgery and hand him over to the doctors.  God gave me so much peace sitting in that waiting room during the surgery and so many people were praying for us and for him!  The surgery went well but that evening was very scary.  He was not staying stable and we didn't get to see him for a very long time.  They ended up having to re-open his chest, which stayed open for 5 days.  He did finally stabilize at once they closed his chest he began to improve significantly.  Things were happening that nurses were telling us was abnormal (in a good way).  After 14 days in the hospital we finally got to take our baby boy home!!!  The big kids were so happy to have Mommy and Daddy home and we were happy to have all 3 of our babies home at last!!

This past year has flown by.  Malachi has grown so much!  He is such a happy boy!  He loves his big sister and big brother.  He likes Tigger to make his Mama happy!  He thinks it is funny to get your toes, he loves the number 8 and doing math problems that equal 8, he likes to dance, especially to "Your Love for Me", he eats and eats and loves anything you put in his mouth.  His favorite words are "hi daddy", "ball", and "eat" but he can say many more words.  What a wonderful year it has been with Malachi in our lives!  We are so thankful that God in his time and in His wisdom brought this little boy in our lives.  It has been a year of so much joy despite the fact that he had to endure more heart procedures, he had a heart cath in April and then another open heart surgery this June.  But this little guy is a fighter and he doesn't let anything get him down!  And we got to see God work a miracle in his last surgery!!!  How cool is that!?!

1. ’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
   Just to take Him at His Word;
   Just to rest upon His promise,
   And to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”
   • Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
     How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
     Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
     Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
     
     
     Oh how we are glad we waited and trusted in Jesus.  We could have easily said "no" to the situation of Malachi.  There were so many unknowns with a baby with a heart condition.  However, we felt the peace of God and His guidance and direction.  And oh how sweet it was to follow Him where He led!!!  Definitely worth the wait!!  "To God be the Glory!"