Samuel Jeffrey

Samuel means God answered our prayers. Jeffery means God's divine peace. This is what we are naming our son. The name he was given at birth means "terror, or god of fear" and there is no way we will speak that over him.When we got word that this boy was available and found out his name was Deimas, I immediately looked up what it meant. We were calling him Baby D at first because we didn't like what his name meant and our last name starts with D, too. We just kept praying about what his name should be. When we had been trying to get pregnant for about 6 months, we decided when we did, if it was a boy, his name would be Samuel. We had been praying for a child and it was getting pretty emotional and hard to have faith... I wasn't thinking about naming our adopted son Samuel, I just wasn't really putting the pieces together. :)

Then I was looking through a jewelry catalog and saw a necklace that simply said 1 Samuel 1:27 on it. I looked it up in the New Living Translation, which says "I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and He has granted my request." I don't think it could have been more clear to me that this was that child. We hadn't been approved yet, we didn't even know how the process of changing his name worked yet, we just both agreed that Samuel was his name. We started speaking that verse over our lives and every time we said his name we were claiming that God had answered our prayers. 

We don't know what his middle name is right now, but I knew it needed to be something that means peace. There are so many stories of redemption and deliverance in the Bible that involve God changing someone's name to something that spoke over them a fulfilled purpose. I prayed about it for a week, then looked at a baby name website where you can put in what you want your baby's name to mean and it lists the names that mean anything close. I simply entered the word 'peace' There were some weird names, then I saw Geoffrey, and I knew. We prefer Jeffery as the spelling, but the meaning is the same, God's divine peace.

I hadn't really thought about it, but one of my best friends said that she loved that we were part of Christ's redemption story for this baby. At that moment, it became clear that all of our heartache and tears were for a reason, to love this child and raise him as God's. I've cried many tears of joy over being chosen for this amazing role as this child's mother, and I know that we would never have made the decisions leading up to this if we hadn't gone through the trials of temporary infertility. 

Through this, I hope you understand that God's plan may not make sense, and we may want to give up sometimes. But giving up on what He has at the end of that particular trial may be giving up on being someone else's path to the Savior... 

Declare it!!

Hey, I know it's been a while since I've written... and, quite frankly, I'm ashamed of the reasons. I am learning that I should share, even when I am struggling to find the positive. I should be sharing our story as we go, because we learn and grow through the tough times, not just when things are good. I am constantly having to regain perspective and remind myself that I am not in control... I am also having to remind myself to relinquish control because, even though it is just as hard every time, God's plans always work better!

My newest life nugget is about declaring God's plans and promises for our lives, instead of constantly asking Him to do things for us... My husband and I have been reading Relentless by John Bevere, a book about praying without ceasing, and having courage and being unstoppable. In this book, he discusses Ephesians 1:19-20, "I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms." This means that we have been given the same power through Christ, meaning it has already been given. This leads me to my story.

As you know, my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for about a year and a half. About 6 months ago, we began this adventure of adoption, because we really felt God was leading us down this road for the current place we're in... We prayed and took classes and prepared for a little boy who is 6 years old, only to find out that he was going to live with family in another state. This led us to the realization that our hearts had been opened to a child we didn't birth, and had no idea who they would be... So we continued our adventure, not knowing where it would lead... We tried to submit our information for a 2 year old little boy, only to find out we had waited 1 day too late to decide to pursue other options. Then we had to opportunity to submit our paperwork for a sibling group with a 5 year old girl and 7 month old boy, or a 1 year old Asian girl who sounded amazing. We are not set up for more than one child in our current home, so the 2 were not an option. I wanted to say yes to the little girl, and in my haste was upset when my husband said no. He told me, he really felt like it was going to be a little boy. After being very upset with him for a couple days, I remembered all the times his discernment has won over my pride and lack of logic... 

The way it works is that if you submit your information to be considered for a child, you are not allowed to try for another until you have been officially denied. The process usually takes 2-3 weeks. So, about a week and a half after fighting with my husband because I desperately wanted to say yes to the 1 year old girl, we got a phone call from our worker at the adoption agency. She said she had a 7 month old little boy who was perfectly healthy and happy, with no ties to biological family. We submitted our information about an hour after she had received the email. We prayed and declared him as our son for 3 weeks, not wavering in our words, and not really saying, "please God give us this child." Just thanking him for our son and declaring 1 Samuel 1:27 over him: "I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request." 3 and a half weeks later, we got the phone call that this child is going to be ours!!!!!!!! He will be in our house by the beginning of February. We have yet to meet him, but we have perfect peace that this was God's plan all along! 

The moral of the story is that God has already granted us authority, and He has a divine plan for us, we just have to accept that we are His children. We have to claim what is already ours, and stop just timidly asking for things. :) 
Next week I will share about our son's name and the awesomeness that is God's love and redemption!