Big Week

This is a week full of celebrations. Bethany turns 4. Caleb turns 14 (in China). Art & Jen celebrate 19 years of marriage. In all of this.... we acknowledge God! We are grateful for His faithfulness & kindness in our lives.

Today is Bethany's 4th birthday. We adopted this precious girlie at eighteen months. She was only fourteen pounds. She didn't crawl. She didn't walk. She used very few sounds. It became clear to us very quickly that her medical situation was more complex than simply a heart defect.

A lot has happened in 2.5 years. Our girl has been diagnosed with Williams Syndrome. We have heard it described as a mix of Down's Syndrome and Autism. Our lives are full of beauty because of this little lady. She has a special love for music & interacting with people. She knows no social etiquette or restraint. She just loves to engage people! There are also many hard things about WS: tremendous feeding issues & anxiety. God is teaching us so much through this special girl. We have a load of medical appointments and weekly therapies (OT, PT, SLT & feeding therapy). We cling to Jesus & trust in His perfect plans for her & for us.

We are grateful this is God's plan for us. We are grateful for the incredible gifts we have been given with each of our children...both biological and adopted. God has used BJ to teach us so much about the beauty beyond typical. She is anything but typical. She is precious and loved. We feel so very blessed to be her parents. God is accomplishing much through her life.

Caleb is turning 14 this week. We are still in awe that the Lord has moved mountains to bring him to our family just days before his birthday (& aging out in China). We cannot wait to celebrate this birthday with him. We look forward to sharing so many details about this adoption with him. Mostly, we look forward to telling him about God's great love for him personally.

Here are some more pictures from this week. Both boys are being adventurous with eating. Caleb ordered a cheeseburger at a Western type restaurant yesterday. Zach ate tofu & noodles for dinner this evening.

 

 

And last but not least.... our 19th wedding anniversary is this week! What an incredible journey together. It is so much harder than we ever imagined. It means so much more than we knew. God rescued our lives after we were married. We had no idea all that He would bring us through. We are so very grateful we are still together BY HIS GRACE.

 

 

 

 

 

 Thank you for praying for our family & celebrating each of these incredible blessings in our lives.

 

By His grace & for His glory,

Art, Jen & kiddos