Avery Day Life: July 2009

My very first niece was born on July 9, 2009, exactly 7 months after Landon was born! This is great because when people ask "how far a part are they?" we can 7 months exactly! This will also help me in remembering her birthday. Her name is Noelle and she is adorable.

I am so excited for my brother Chad and his wife Julie because this has been a long journey for them. Its been about a 6 year journey in fact. They tried to concieve a child for a long time and it just wasn't working. As I understand it the doctors weren't even sure exactly why it wasn't working. They thought they had corrected all the possible problems, however nothing was happening.

To backtrack a little when Chad and Julie were first married they both felt that God was telling them that he wanted them to adopt children at some point. I think they both thought it would be after they had some biological children. However after not having any success over a 5 year period they felt that God was saying, "no I want you to adopt first!" Thus the adoption process began!

Chad and Julie have been working w/ an agency to adopt a child domestically for a little over a year. Over the past 9 months or so they had been passed over many times by various birth mothers. Often it was because my brother is a pastor, once it was even because he was a Marine years ago (the mother thought he would be too strict.) While this was very heartbreaking to be passed over so many times, they knew that God had just the right child waiting for them in his perfect timing.

To take a side trip for a second, during this year of waiting they went on a mission trip to Haiti in early June. After they came back they felt God telling them He wanted them to adopt two little boys, that they had met while they were over there. They had always said they really wanted to have an infant but they were willing to let go of their plans to follow God's calling. So they made the commitment that they would do whatever it took to adopt these boys and bring them home to America. I am so excited for these boys to become Chad and Julie's sons and mine and Darin's nephews. Haiti is a very dark country in the spiritual sense. Satanic practices abound there, and according to Chad you can feel the spiritual oppression when you are in that country. I think it is so amazing that they are giving these children the opportunity to grow up in a loving home where they will be taught to love and serve the one and only true God and not have to grow up being exposed to vodoo and other evil practices. I cannot wait to meet them and spoil them rotten as they are growing up!

Okay, so now that you know that info.. back to Noelle... At the end of June they got a call that a birth mother had chosen them to interview. During the interview this birth mother directed almost all of her questions toward Chad. She wanted to know what kind of Father he was going to be. Apparently this young woman had not had a good relationship w/ her father and he just wasn't very involved in her life. And in the end she ended up choosing them first because they were believers and second because she wanted her daughter to have a Father like Chad who would love her and be very involved in her life. I love how it all worked out! So many times they had been passed over because of my brother's job(s) but the child that God did have for them was given to them BECAUSE of Chad! (Julie is wonderful and amazing too, I don't mean to sound like it was all about Chad, but I just know this is what the birth mother said...)

I am thrilled to tears that Chad and Julie are being blessed with this baby girl. I also think it is neat how as soon as they were willing to put aside their first desires to adopt these two older boys instead of an infant that God also saw fit to give them the desires of their hearts and give them an infant plus these two precious boys! (Just a note that the boys won't be here for another year or so because of the international adoption process... will keep you updated though!)

One more thought to share before I close this post (and of course I will include some pictures for you to see.) The day after Noelle was born my quiet time just happened to take me to the passage of scripture that Darin and I had prayed for our little boy Landon when I was carrying him and this will always be our prayer for him. This was just a cool God moment because I did not purposely go there, I was just reading through the 2 books of Corinthians and the day after she was born my reading was in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. In verses 14-16 it talks about how we as believers are to be like the aroma of Christ and how we can draw people to Christ through our lives. We have always prayed that Landon would be like the sweet aroma of Christ and that through the way he lives his life that he would draw people to Jesus (just like how the sweet aroma of chocolate chips cookies or cinnamon rolls draws you to eat them!)

When I read that passage the very day after my neice was born I knew that was to be my prayer for her as well. I prayed that the way she lived her life would also draw people to Christ. I also prayed for her just as I have my own son, that God would give her an obedient spirit (to Him first and to her parents), a pure heart and a passion to follow and serve God always. I am tearing up as I write this because I know God has a very special plan for this precious little girl and I cannot wait to see what He does in her life. I feel so blessed to be her aunt and I pray God will allow me to touch her life in a special way. I know I won't have the level of influence as her mom and dad, but I pray that I would be able to help her grow in her faith and always be an encouragement to my sweet precious little niece that we have PRAYED to come into our family for such a VERY LONG TIME. Sometimes it hard for me to believe that she is really here... It is really taking everything in me not to just run down to Cincinnati and cuddle with her. (Thankfully I'll be able to see her next week when we go down there for our mission trip.)

Noelle... I hope you know that you are a very LOVED little girl! I thank God for you and the gift that you are to my brother and Julie and to our WHOLE family. And I am so excited Landon will have someone to play with now!!! I'm also excited that I'll definitely have someone to play dress up with when we go to Grandmommy's house, you can wear all my old dance costumes and play w/ my doll house! Its going to be GREAT having a niece!!! I love you sweet girl.
Enough of the mushy stuff... now for more pictures!