A Date to Remember....February 20

February 20, 1988

Our family changed. My beautiful sister, Hattie, met Jesus.

Why did this happen? Did I do something to cause it? What did we do to receive this kind of pain?  These were the questions in my 7 1/2 year old little mind.  Even as an adult I do not understand the pain of this Earth.  How can we get through it?  Answer: by grace and the love of our heavenly Father. 

Even though I was very young I have lots of memories. I vividly remember the day she died. I remember seeing my mother grieve at the hospital. I remember the funeral. I remember the hugs and love shown by our community.    Other than in the hospital, I do not remember my mom hurting.  So I can tell you where I was hiding when we were playing hide and go seek before my dad and William Brown came to tell me the news, but I cannot tell you much about my mother grieving.  My mom always told me that the Lord handed her patience on a silver platter.  She taught me about grace and stood strong with her faith through it all.  She taught me not to lean on our own understandings but on His alone.  When life doesn't make sense you have to hold on to God's promises. She is my hero. 

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"

We have our faith and nurture it through the good times so that WHEN the hard times come we can turn to God and use the recipe (the Word) He gave us to survive.  

February 20, 2012

Unbeknownst to us, in Wuhan, China a little girl came into the custody of the Children's Welfare Institute.  The pain, the grief and the decision these parents had to make giving this precious and beautiful baby girl away.  This baby girl was given a name by the province.... Something simply to identify her by dates and location with one word of something good: "Jing".  They told us "She was given this name because we hope she would be elegant and would contribute to the society when she is grown up"  

February 20, 2013

My dear friend Monica shared with me her testimony about their precious daughter, Sophia.  Sophia was adopted from China and she met Jesus at the tender age of 6 years old.  I was honored that Monica felt the Spirit lead her to share her family's testimony on my sister's 25th birthday.  I shared with her that adoption has always been in my heart because my brother was adopted.  She challenged me to pray over it and see where God leads us.  
Here is sweet Sophia...

February 20, 2014

We announced to the world that we were adopting a little girl in China!!  We spent a year in prayer, study, counsel and MOUNTAINS of paperwork.  At this point we were sending everything over to China preparing to get a child's file.



February 20, 2015
**This was our due date for all the post adoption paperwork needed to be sent back to China.  We did not choose this date, it was given to us after the adoption was complete January 20, 2015**

In the process we missed spending Thanksgiving, Christmas and her 3rd birthday in 2014.  In our minds we thought we would have her in our arms by then.  It was very hard experiencing these joyful times knowing our baby was over 7,000 miles away.  We had a birthday cake and party on November 1, we took family photos during the holidays holding her picture in a frame.  We did these things so she could look back one day and see that she was with us in spirit before we came to get her.  

God had clearly kept sending us these special nudges on Hattie's birthday.  We decided to celebrate 2015 on February 20 for all the things mentioned above. 

We had birthday cake...

(This was the top piece of her birthday cake made by Mona Jimerson from her party November 1.  We froze it and she finally got to eat it!!)


Chicken Enchiladas....

We opened Christmas presents...

 MOST pictures were of her in a blur because she was all over the place LOL

We remembered Hattie...

We remembered Sophia...

Above all we gave glory to God for whom all blessings flow.  

I have several friends who have lost their children suddenly.  One family, who is very dear to us, lost their baby girl the day before we got Annabelle just one month ago. Being a mother, I cannot even begin to fathom the pain their families are feeling.   I do know healing is a journey and not something that is linear (stole this from advice Monica gave me).  My mom described it to me like this: When you loose someone like that you are on a roller coaster ride.  At first you are low, very low just moving along. Then you experience a small joy, then pain back down low.  This cycle continues for a while, even years.  Eventually, through time and prayer your highs get higher and your lows aren't as low.   The highs become more frequent and she said she felt normal again where she could remember Hattie and smile.  She said she kept saying to herself "Behind every grey cloud is a silver lining"

All this to say, if you know someone hurting, be patient with them. Be there for them. Pray for them. Listen.  Give them time and by no means ever EVER judge them.  For us, I lost my sister 27 years ago and I am now rejoicing that somehow her death has brought so much joy to this Earth AND brought many people to the kingdom of God.  

Our God has already won the war.  Make sure you are on the winning side.  We will keep posting updates on Annabelle but above all I want her journey to be an encouragement to you in whatever phase you are in now.  Peace does come. Healing will happen. Pain will come again.  Surround yourself with love and immerse yourself in the Word getting ready for battle.  Love to you all