Before you were even born...

I think about you all of the time. You have already become a part of our family... and you don't even know it yet.  Over there, on the other side of the world, you are already in full swing of tomorrow, going about your day, and you probably don't even know it yet that there is a family on the other side of the world preparing for you.  As we are in the midst of paperwork, trainings, meetings, and preparation, we are praying for you every single day, several times a day.  You have a sister and two brothers who pray for you to come home quickly and for our plane ride to be smooth to you and back.  You have a mommy and daddy who love you fiercely and spend late nights talking about you, dreaming and planning the future and talking about what-if scenarios.  I often wonder what you are thinking or feeling as you go about your day?  Will you be happy to learn that you are going to be adopted?  Will you be nervous, yet excited to know someone wants you as their own?  We know you'll be scared as you step away from what you've always known and begin a new adventure and a new life with us.  I hope you will be happy with us.  I hope you will grow to love us as much as we love you.  I hope that as you grow and mold perfectly into our family, that you will feel and flourish in the love of a family.  I pray that as we love you as God loves us that you will see His Light shining in us and you will bask and glow and come to RADIATE His love!  I pray that you will come to know Jesus as your personal Savior.  My prayer is that as you grieve over the end of your orphanage days....possibly even grieving the separation from your best friend if you have one and those children who you have grown with since you were a newborn... as you at some point or more, grieve the loss of knowing your birth mother and father did not keep you, as you grieve not ever knowing who your birth parents were.... that you will know that you weren't born without a purpose, without hope.  You were not abandoned forever.  You were not thrown away.  You, my child, were born for a purpose.... and that purpose was to become a part of our family.  You, Annika, were born for us....to be a part of our family.  Not that you needed us or we needed you.  But that the Lord can work out His plans for your life.  What big plans He has for you! I have FAITH that He will work mighty things in your life, in our life.

"Before you were born, I set you apart." Jeremiah 1:5

My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
(Psalm 139:15-18)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you; to give you a future filled with hope". 
Jeremiah 29:11

Annika, I cannot wait for the day to come that I get to hug you and hold you.  I know that it will come soon, my daughter.  I cannot wait for the day you see your sister and brothers and realize you are not alone in this world.  I cannot wait for the day when I see your eyes light up when you play with your siblings or daddy takes you on your first daddy/daughter date.  I know that will take time as we all get to know one another, but, I know that the day will come when the smile on your face will reach to your eyes as you look upon your family and laughter fills the air as joy spills over from your heart.