Love is a journey....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

The day of love.

One of my favorite things this month has been all of the sweet daddy/daughter pictures posted on Facebook.  It melts my heart every time.  Getting sweet notes from my kids and husband gets me all warm and fuzzy too.  Tonight, Jay took Jadyn out on a daddy/daughter date.  They were so adorable.  Jay pulled up in his truck out front, rang the doorbell and greeted Jadyn at the door with a red rose in his hand.  She was grinning ear to ear.  They had a great time out to eat and enjoyed playing the game of Life (her choice) at Chili's.  The boys and I had a nice chill day at home with lots of video games, movies and tv shows, relaxing and being lazy.  It has been a great day!

I love seeing Jay with his little girl.  I love seeing my tenderhearted Eli come to me and shyly wrap his arms around my waist in a sweet hug just because he wanted to tell me he loves me (and sometimes to butter me up so he can play an extra round of Wii U games.)  I love how Asher will come butt my rear end like he is a billy goat (not really, I don't like that) and then he swings his arms around me tightly and says, "Mommy, hold me!" I love when my husband embraces me and looks at me with that twinkle in his eye that says I'm the only one for him.  I love being his wife. I love being their mommy.  And I love that we are going to add one more little girl to our family....

Wait! What?

YES!  Our family is growing! NO, I am not pregnant.  YES, we are excited! NO, we are not crazy! (Come on, I know some of you just thought that!)

We have fallen in love with a special little girl who is 7 years old and needs a family. So, why not us? Jay and I look back over the past 8 years since Jadyn and the boys have entered our lives, and what an adventure it has been!  Life has been crazy with 3 young kids....it’s often chaotic and messy, but it is our beautiful mess.  Seriously, even in the most frustrating of days and moments (for example, Asher just spilled a glass of milk, literally and it’s the 5th mess I have to clean up today), Jay and I still stop and look at our kids, look at what God has blessed us with, and we cannot help but be AMAZED at His goodness!  The Lord has really been working in our hearts over the last few months and weeks.  2016 is bringing some exciting changes in our lives.  One of the biggest changes being we are going to be add this little girl to our family through the gift of adoption!  We are VERY excited about this.  We are nervous, anxious, ecstatic and above all, excited to see the Lord work in all of this.  Adoption is a beautiful thing.  We know so many friends and family that have already taken the step of adoption and added beautiful children to their lives. All of us, as believers in Christ Jesus are adopted as sons and daughters in the Lord.  What a beautiful way to reflect God's love than for us to adopt a child into our family as well!  We know adoption isn't for everyone, and that's okay.  It is for us, and we are excited for this journey of love that is going to bring this precious little girl home to our family.  

Galations 3:26-29

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

As of yesterday, we have officially begun the adoption process of our sweet girl.  Let me tell you a little about our beloved little girl who will be named Annika Faith Sappington.  She has lived in an orphanage since she was 2 days old.  She was most likely abandoned because of some birth defects she has….nothing that isn't fixable though.  She will need corrective surgeries once we have her home with us.  Because I don't know if I'm legally allowed to just yet, I am not sharing her information publicly.  I will tell you that she is overseas and hopefully very soon she will know there is a family living in the United States that have said YES to her, that loves her without even having met face to face yet, and that cannot wait to have her meet her sister and brothers.  

Jadyn cannot wait to have a sister to share her room (she’s been praying for a sister for over a month now) and the boys are looking forward to helping Annika learn to speak English and welcome her into our family.  We are literally just beginning the process of adoption and have a long road ahead of us.  We are stepping out in Faith and believe this
is what the Lord has in store for us.  We also believe that the Lord will provide every step of the process as well.  We do not have the monetary means to bring Annika home…yet.  But, our Lord does.  Please be praying with us that God will meet every need we have at every step of the journey.  We have already started cutting costs in our budget where we can.  I’ve already stopped the housecleaning service and we are looking for where we can pinch more as well.  We will be fundraising and taking donations as well.  We are also not opposed to doing extra work either.  Just today, Jay went and did a little handy man work and earned a little extra cash.  Our first $100 towards Annika. It's a start!

Jay and I also have a specific bank account set up for our adoption costs that we can deposit donations and earnings into so we can write checks to cover application fees, 
home study fees, international paperwork, etc.  IF you would like to and can donate towards helping us, we gratefully accept it!  Our immediate need is we need money into our bank account so we can write checks to send off applications.  If you can donate, we need checks, cash or paypal (jaysapp@gmail.com).  Adoption is beautiful, but it is also a very humbling experience…. getting out of our comfort zone and asking for help.  Very humbling moment for us right now.  And also perfect timing for the Lord to once again show us how GREAT He is in our lives.  Even as I write this, I am emotional and crying.  We can’t do it without you, without our support team.  Not everyone is going to be able to give (or even want to give, and that’s okay), but everyone can pray.  That is what we ask for the most.  Please pray with us during this journey of love.  Annika is our little girl, our daughter and sister already and we have yet to meet face to face…..

We love you and are thankful for you.  

Love,

Jay and Shannon