Announcing Joanna's Adoption!!!!!

Hi there - this is Jason writing on behalf of our family.  Dawn is in Florida with family celebrating the life of her cousin Heather, and is not able to be "connected" as she usually is, so I have the joy of posting while she's away!

Joanna has been such a blessing to our family.  Our journey to child number 8 was one of much heartache.  We were not able to bring home our Naomi (See our post about Naomi here), but God opened up a door for us amidst our loss and sadness.  A door with much rejoicing on the other side!  See our "Journey To Joanna" Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.  Within days of signing up with Christian Adoption Consultants, with Tracie Loux as our consultant, and working with Mother Goose Adoptions, we were in Philadelphia, PA holding our precious baby girl angel!

From the time we knew we weren't bringing Naomi home I could see a sadness in Dawn's eyes.  I know it sounds silly, but she lost some of the sparkle.  When God turned our "wailing into dancing" (Psalm 30:11), He did it in style:

• Not only did He give us the gift of a child we so yearned for, but He made it happen in a matter of hours!!!
• He placed Tracie in our lives, who is now such an awesome friend.
• He provided a warm and loving home with Brian and Dorean Beattie (Friends of Tracie) where Dawn and Joanna could stay and be loved until being allowed to leave Pennsylvania (And it just happened to be that Dorean is a gifted photographer and took some beautiful pictures of a mommy and her new baby!)
• He opened up a door to fly Dawn and Joanna down to Houston in First Class for the same price as Economy.
• He gave us the gift of a home to stay in until we could come back to Louisiana - the home of a wonderful couple (who had never met us before either) to stay with over Easter Weekend no less, so we could be be together as a family!  The couple are the parents-in-law of Nell Ann Galindo, who with her husband Justin adopted a gorgeous little boy from Ethiopia through All God's Children, as we did our Jonathan.

There were many blessings - God is SO good isn't he? but the true icing on the cake for me as a husband was to see my wife get that sparkle back.  Others might not see it specifically, but I can see it in her face in these pictures taken when Joanna was just days old.

Dawn took this herself the first day she held Joanna

One of the pictures taken by Dorean

I took this picture the day I arrived in Philadelphia

Me holding Joanna for the first time

One of the most awesome moments in the life of a mommy or daddy is when you hold your child for the first time.  Dawn was able to take pictures of me with Joanna the first time I held her (You can see I still have my bag over my shoulder) as I stepped into the lobby of our hotel.  What went through my mind, and what continues to go through my mind when I hold her now is how special children are.  They are special to us because they are a new life created in God's image, with eternal worth, with a purpose, with unique gifts and personality, and a reminder of God's blessing in our life EVERY day! 

Those of us who have or will be adopting, and those who are passionate about God's heart for adoption know how sweet the day is when you finally have that adoption decree in your hands. So, please join with us in celebrating the adoption of Joanna on the 22nd.  We so wish that all of our dear and precious blog friends who have been part of our journey could be with us to celebrate in person, and we know that that isn't possible, but you are welcome to be part of our day - we would love to see you!

We value, appreciate and treasure your prayers, support and encouragement - THANK YOU!   Praying you all can experience and see that "sparkle" in your life and in the faces of those you love.
God Bless,

Jason