A Special Trip

Have you ever gotten to be a part of something that is just so special you wish it could last forever?  Well, last weekend my man, who is a youth pastor, performed the wedding ceremony for a young woman whom we absolutely love like our own.  It was such an immense honor to walk alongside this young woman in her teens.  We have stayed in touch despite moving out of state, and so we have a deep, deep love for her.  The littles were so excited to attend their first wedding!  This was totally a JOY for Anna Mei as she is so social.

This young woman, whom Sean performed the wedding for, was a huge part of our lives when we brought Anna Mei and Jillian home.  We did life together with this special girl on a regular basis so seeing her marry a Godly, young man who is so in love with her was such a wonderful feeling.

Amber invested in my Em so much too in those days.  Emily was about eight when she started having dinner with us once a week.  She would do homework next to our little girl, who is now grown, and play games with her all night.

Molly was happy to meet everyone as this was her first large gathering of our friends from back home since she has joined us.  She fit right in.

 It was such a sweet night to celebrate and reconnect.  My girls danced and danced.

Anna Mei, loved reconnecting with our friends the most.  This girl is so wired for relationship.  She loves so deeply with such a beautiful heart.  She talked about how beautiful the wedding ceremony was for days.  She kept calling the groom..Amber's boy.  "Why Amber's boy...." she would say when asking about the night.  It was darling.

She loved seeing her big Anna most.  Anna (the big one), and her amazing mom, were with me in China when Anna Mei was placed in my arms.  Anna Mei is named for her, and my little Chinese treasure loves her with all her heart so seeing her big Anna always makes her happy.  I sat looking around and feeling so very blessed to have so many special people in my life.  What an incredible trip for an amazing union.

Our Jillian reconnected too as these were her people in the beginning.  These were the friends who saw her so broken and near death.  She was so isolated, and in darkness, but they loved, supported, and prayed for us as we worked to win her heart.  It was beyond hard in those early months, but this village was always, always what we needed.  I left this weekend sad to not have them so close, but so very thankful that God allowed them to be near in that season that was so very hard because they were Jesus hands and feet to me again and again.  I will be forever grateful for that, and for this weekend!