Father's Day and Amazon.com 

Father’s Day is just around the corner, and many of you will be shopping for that perfect gift for dad.  As you look for just the right gift for dad, Kelli and I ask that you consider shopping on Amazon.com as a way to help our adoption fundraising.  All you have to do is access the Amazon.com site through our link (http://tinyurl.com/blx8959), shop for dad, and for every purchase you make, we get a percentage of that purchase for our adoption expenses.  It’s just that easy. 

We ask that you please pass on this link to all your friends and family for their Father’s Day shopping as well.  Thank you so much for helping to get the word out.  We appreciate your help more than you know.

Show Hope

Last night was a roller coaster of emotions for me.  Kelli and I were blessed to attend Show Hope’s 10^th anniversary celebration at Lipscomb University (thanks to my sweet sister-in-law for hooking us up with our tickets).  God has given Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman an incredible vision for ministering to orphans and adoptive families, and the night was really about celebrating all that God has done the past ten years through this amazing ministry. 

As I took it all in, my mind went to so many places.  As I watched the dads and daughters danced while Steven remembered his Maria during his song Cinderella, I couldn’t help but wish that was me sharing a dance with my sweet daughter I’ve yet to meet.  I saw so many pictures of other adoptive families when they met their child for the first time, and I couldn’t help but wonder what that special day would be like for us.  I wept as I saw video footage of adoptive families being welcomed back at the airport with their precious children, and I thought about what that welcome might be like for us when we bring our little Sophie (yep, we’ve decided on a name) home. 

It doesn’t take much to bring me to tears these days, and that’s okay.  These images that I’ve seen and experiences I’ve already had on this adoption journey should move me (and all of us for that matter), and I’m glad that my heart is a little softer now so that I can be touched in these ways.  God has called me and Kelli to adopt, and my hope and prayer is that he will call you to do something too for the 153 million orphans in the world.  He may not call you to adopt, but you can do something to bless a little boy or girl somewhere in the world.  Just be open to it, and God will show you where he needs you to “show hope.” You can be sure there’s a child somewhere who needs it.

Still Praying

I’m praying for a little girl in China.  Actually, I pray for her every day.   You may wonder, “Jeremy, exactly what are you praying for?”  Well, the list is long, as there are so many things that I have no control over. Things that have a huge impact on my daughter that I’ve never met.  Things that only God can control right now. 

I can’t be there to protect my little girl, so I pray for God to protect her and keep her safe.  To keep her safe from any kind of abuse and neglect, to keep her away from anyone who might harm her or not have her best interests in mind.  I can’t feed her or give her something to drink, so I pray that when she is hungry, someone will be there to give her all the food her precious little body needs.  I pray that when she’s thirsty, some kind soul will be there to give her something to drink.  I can’t be there to make sure she has adequate clothing and to make sure she is warm enough.  So, I pray that God will put someone in her life who will make sure she has all of the clothes and blankets she would ever need.  Because I can’t be there to hold and touch my daughter, I pray that someone will be there to pick her up and hold her often, to comfort her when she’s afraid, and to just love on her with all the affection that a little girl so desperately needs. 

You see, for now, these are some of the things that I simply have no control over.  And for now, I beg God for his help because I know he can.  I believe He is able and he alone can provide.   He provides for us every day, and he can absolutely take care of my daughter on the other side of the world.  And for that, I am forever grateful.

Our Waiting Child 

Well, the Johnson adoption journey continues.  Kelli and I recently completed and submitted our Waiting Child Application.  This is the application that’s required for any family who wants to adopt a child with special needs.  The special needs that we’re open to are minor special needs, but still special needs all the same.  Now, we wait to schedule a conference call with our local case worker and China team case worker to discuss exactly what special needs we’re open to, and then the matching process begins!  We have no idea how long the matching process will take, but we’re praying it won’t take long at all.  There’s a precious little girl in China we just can’t wait to bring home!

The Picture

Last Friday morning, my heart was hurting.  It was a hurt that I’ve yet to experience in this journey of adoption, and I’m confident it’s a hurt that I’ll feel again soon. I was in the Brentwood Baptist Church worship center at the Summit9 conference in Nashville, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.  There she was… a picture of a precious, little Asian girl.  Her picture was actually one of several pictures hanging from the ceiling over the stage.  The children in these pictures were likely orphans, but there was something different about her picture.  Her dark eyes and sweet smile pierced my heart, and I felt like she was looking right at me. 

As I sat there on that pew, the thoughts came, “Does my precious, little Asian girl look like that?  What does she look like?  Where is she right now and what is she doing?  Is my little girl safe?  Is someone protecting her?  Are her needs being met?  When will we meet?  And when will we be able to bring her home?”  There was a longing in my heart, a longing like I’ve never experienced.  It was a longing for my precious, little Asian girl.  It was a longing for my daughter.  And until the day we meet and bring her home, that longing will remain.  You see, right now, something just isn’t right.  Something is missing.  Our family as it is just isn’t complete, and until our Gotcha Day, my heart will hurt. 

As I consider my hurt, I wonder if the pain in my heart is similar to the pain that God feels in his heart.  It just makes sense to me that God’s heart hurts for me and for all his children, as he waits for us to become a part of his family.  His precious, little girls and boys that he simply can’t take his eyes off of.  God longs for us too.  He longs to love us and to know us, and to adopt us into his family.  So, maybe in this way, my heart is a little more in tune with God’s heart…a God who has a heart for adoption… a God who has a heart for the fatherless.  My pain makes a little more sense now.  And even though the pain will continue, I’m trying to be okay with it.  Because maybe, just maybe, I’m becoming a little more like my heavenly Father during this adoption journey.  And maybe that’s one of the reasons Kelli and I are on this journey in the first place.