Overjoyed...Overwhelmed and in Awe!!!

Where do I even begin....this post may be all over the place because my heart is leaping!

We are overwhelmed with God's goodness!  He deserves all the glory and honor and let me tell you why!

We started this process 14 months ago by handing in our application trusting in Him to lead and guide us as He had done so by breaking our hearts for the needs of the orphan...especially those with special needs.

Soon into our process we identified a little girl who had come across our computer screen.  Bethany Christian Services will send out pictures of children who are waiting on families.  We would get several of these.  Break my heart!  Did you read that.....Children who are WAITING for a family to love them and make them their own!!!!  This particular picture and story captured our heart.  There were many unknowns but we felt God prompting us to pursue this sweet little one.  Resting completely in the fact that He will not give us what we can not handle.  He promises to carry us and be our strength.  Our life is not our own!  So began our homestudy and the rest of the adoption process.  At the time, Sadie was 4 months old.

As we walked through this trusting...not seeing...but believing in Him who is leading....He began to encourage us by confirming over and over again this is where we need to be.  He brought Bob and I even closer, our family began bonded even more as we prayed and prayed for our little girl on the other side of the world.  Our church family, small group, my bible study girls, friends, family, extended family, blog friends, fellow yahoo Bethany adoptive parents all became a part of our story by lifting us up in prayer and encouraging us on this long walk...with the ups and downs that come from this walk of faith.  Again, HE cared for our hearts and where we were emotionally enough to set up this wonderful group of supporters.

As a family we prayed and prayed.  We prayed for her foster mother, that she would love our little girl like her own.  That she would be patient with Sadie in everything, when she cried, when she changed her diaper, when she fed her, when she was acting out.  We prayed for Sadie that the Lord would start preparing her heart for her new family. We prayed that she would come to know Jesus has her personal Savior one day when she can understand.  Our prayers continued to draw us close to this little one whom we had not yet met but even more to our Lord Jesus.

Yesterday, after more then a year....we met our daughter!!!  The daughter that God so sovereignly put in our hearts and our family!!!  Our expectations going into this first meeting were ones that consisted of realizing she would be very shy and stand-offish.  She might not let us hold her throughout the entire time and we were prepared (as much as we could be) for this reaction.  Plus we had been prepared for by our social worker here in HK as well.

Let me tell you....GOD BLEW OUR SOCKS RIGHT OFF OF US AND REMINDED US WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL HE IS!!!!!!!  We are called to walk in faith...not come up with every kind of scenario and borrow unneeded worry...but to SIMPLY TRUST!!

She smiled when she saw us!  For about 40min-1 hour we spent trying to play with her on the floor with toys we had brought.  We tried to do whatever it took to interact.  After this time it was as if a switch at turned on.  She began playing with us!  Playing silly games with toys, throwing them to her..playing peek-a-boo.  She got so excited and started dancing and running to us.  Then we would lift her up over our heads and she would giggle.  She had been given a video of our family and a picture book of us as well.  She would look at our picture then look at us and smile!!!!!!  She was putting it together right before our eyes!!!!  She would kiss our picture.  One of the most beautiful moments was when she looked at Bob and said "Da da"!  We both just filled up with tears instantly( and really could have cried out loud)!  As the day went on she let me hold her and give her drinks and feed her wasabi peas???? Um in my house they would be choking hazards for toddlers but, hey?!

We took her to the park and out to lunch.  She would be toddling around and lift her arms up to us....oh melt my heart!  Even with her foster mother there.  As Bob strolled her she held my hand as I walked beside her!!!!

Sadie is full of life!! She is a little whipper snapper!  She loves to make people laugh and thinks she is so funny!  The faces she makes are hysterical...she knows she is cute, quite the comedian.  She loves being the center of attention.  When she gets tired she grabsShe seems to be so secure in her surroundings and has been well loved!

Which brings me to her foster mother.  We observed from 10:30-3:30pm the love of a woman who loved our child like. her. own!!!  There was no show going on for the "parents" this was a love that only comes from a person who has experienced Love.  She was amazing.  Both Bob and I just filled up again with emotions for this precious foster mother.  Sadie is her 10th but the only one that she has had for this long.  All the other children she had would stay with her for 3 months.  Sadie and her share a special bond...one that we will always be incredibly thankful for and will continue a relationship with her via sending pictures and keeping her informed with Sadie's progress and growth.  She has taken pictures all throughout the 15+ months of Sadie's life so that her infancy and toddlerhood are very well documented through pics for her to have one day...what a gift!  I, we, have such a love for this special woman who has loved my daughter with a genuine love.

We also found out that Sadie's birthmother left her a little letter and a small box of a couple of things.  Some of this is private and I am sorry that I can't share every detail....that's Sadie's to know when she is older.  But if you knew behind the scenes....the fact that her mother wrote her a letter made me cry!

Bob and I found ourselves throughout the day just thanking God....almost continuously!  Praising Him for revealing so much of our concerns and our prayers.  The power behind seeing prayers answered is nothing short of AMAZING!!

Our hearts are overwhelmed!  May God receive ALL THE GLORY!!! This is not about us...it's all about Him and looking to Him for all things!  He continues to blow our minds!  WE SERVE A MIGHTY GOD!!!

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families. psalm 68:5-6


I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27


"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
Revelation 4:8


"There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."
1 Samuel 2:2


"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3


I can not post pictures of Sadie on our blog until her adoption is finalized in 6 months but I am trying to figure out how I can cover her little face and post them on here.  If you would like to have me send pics to your email I CAN do that but you can NOT post them to the web.  Email me at cshirschberg@gmail.com

So much more to come!!!!