Everytime we see our children, we can’t help but praising the Lord for allowing us the awesome privilege of raising 7 children for Him.  They are special gifts sent straight from Lord himself.  God gave me the joy of giving birth to our first six children.  Because of their Filipino/Chinese blood, they were little and petite.   One of my doctors had said that I probably wouldn’t be able to have any children after a tumor was removed a month after the birth of my 2nd child.  However, God in his awesome power allowed us to have 4 more beautiful children.  God then turned our hearts to another avenue for receiving these special gifts of children.  As we began opening our eyes to the hurting world around us, we soon saw that there were many children right here in our own country that needed loving families, spiritual upbringing, and a home to call their own.  Although we knew that the child may not come as a little newborn, we said yes to the ministry of opening our home and family to children from other places in this world.  Soon after that God placed a handsome little infant boy into our home.  (No, that’s not quite right.  He was actually a big baby (compared to my babies) and he rapidly put on more weight when we began feeding him on a schedule. We were given a 20 minute warning before he was to be handed over to us.  Although he was constantly wanting to eat and needed special attention in various ways, we and our children quickly fell in love with this bundle of energy.  Before too long, I heard those special words “Mama” and my husband heard “Dada”.  Little Jonathan was constantly wanting to dress up in his brother’s medieval outfit.  When he was only 15 months old, he would tromp through the house with his foam sword, the cape and shield, sunglasses, and my high heels!  He’d have a silly grin on his face and he would quickly get my attention no matter what I was doing!  It soon became apparent that Jonathan had a few extra challenges to work through.  His language skills waned, but that didn’t stop him from singing a bunch of Sunday School tunes with every note in tune perfectly.  Play a classical number and he’ll hum along with it almost immediately.  Maybe he can’t speak, but he sure is brilliant with music!  Isn’t that just like God?  Although He may allow one weakness in a person’s life, He balances it out with a strength in another area.  What an awesome God! 

October 6 was a very special day for us because on that day we adopted Jonathan and gave him our name.  Although Jonathan didn’t realize what was going on, we realized it fully with somberness and yet an air of celebration.  Everytime I get him up in the morning and everytime I tuck him in, I can’t help but thank the Lord for giving us Jonathan in such a unique way.  I can’t even imagine what life would be like without Jonathan there to teach us patience, perseverance, and humor.  It’s an awesome thing to think that God also adopted me - with all my imperfections and weaknesses.  He loved me and accepted me just the way I was.  As God continues, Lord willing, to give us more “special gifts” in various shapes and sizes and with different strengths and weaknesses, I pray that we will not only be thankful, but that we’ll always remember God’s unfailing love shown to each of us every day of our lives.

For more resources on parenting and God’s gift of children, check out www.godseternalmasterpiece.com.