What's In A Name?

     One of the greatest privileges of a parent is in the naming of a child; it both shows the thoughts of the parent toward the child and what the parent hopes for the child in their life. When your child is naturally born to you, you spend months pouring over names wondering if they will fit this child you haven't met and in some cases you wait for the little gipper to come into the world to get a glimpse of him or her before you bestow a name.....With Adoption it is a bit different.

     Our first Adopted child came to us at the age of 3 with five names (yep). We kept the first two and added our last name. We tried to give him a nickname but he was very tied to his name so he kept it. (Currently, he now at the age of 12, has talked about picking his own Christian name that has meaning for his life.) Our 2nd adopted child was from Asia and had a name picked for him by the orphanage. We kept it for his middle name and picked an English name which had a similar meaning. (Currently, he hates his Chinese name and wants an English middle name.)

     Now we face the task of naming our first adopted daughter who is also from China. She, like her Asian brother when adopted, is seven years old and was given her name by the children's home. After much searching and debate we have picked her name much as we did for our bio kids: it shows our thoughts toward her and what we hope for her life.

                  Please welcome to our family  Willow Joy Xian Osowski

    

      Willow means resiliant and graceful and not easily broken; what we hope for this daughter who suffers from brittle bones. 

Joy; we pray she will know the joy of a relationship with her savior.  

Xian; her current Chinese name which means gentle and elegant.

      Osowski; which means she will be part of a big, crazy family who will love her. 

One of the reasons we picked Willow is that we thought to use Loey as a nickname. This was the nickname that both of our mothers (both Lois) were called by their husbands; a tribute to our love for them and their memories. 

 

We have a new daughter.

As of January 20, 2016 we are officially matched with our new daughter. She is seven, almost eight and has been waiting too long for a family. We have been praying for this little girl for about 2 years not quite knowing what God had in mind; only knowing we couldn't sit on our hands and wait for someone else to "do something."

On  January 11, 2016, her file was completed and officially assigned to our agency. This is a miracle from God; there are so many children and usually someone with her special medical needs would not receive a file. Thankfully, there were many individuals who were advocating for her and praying for her.

She is diagnosed with Osteogenisis Imperfecta (brittle bones) and we are trusting that God will work out his plan for her. Her Chinese name is Huixian (hway sheean) and we are still deciding on her American name. Please be in prayer for her health and for our family as we wade back into unknown waters following God's leading.

Compelled

There is a little girl on the other side of the world. There are many such girls but this one grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. She is 7 and living in an Asian orphanage. Because of a handicap, she lives her life sitting in a wheelchair or laying in a bed. I first saw her almost 2 years ago and thought her adorable. I knew her diagnosis but that was all. I prayed that God would bring her a family.

God continued to move my heart with His compassion and I knew I needed to do more than pray. One year ago I spoke with a lady who had traveled to her orphanage and met her. She thought the home would prepare her file if they knew a family was interested in adopting her. Though I didn't know what God's plan was, I was compelled to speak up for her and commit to finding a family or being that family. I was told by an agency that the home had started a file for her.

One year later, after another group visited her and the home where she lives, I was told her file had not been started. I was frustrated and upset. I had hoped that while her file had been worked on so had her family's. My family had begun our home study in case we were that family. Now she would have to wait longer. My only consolation is that I had prepared a gift for her and had sent it with the team  to let her know she was beautiful and loved.

I, in turn, learned a little more about her. She  is well spoken, likes to draw, and is unafraid of strangers.
What does her future and ours hold? I don't know and it is enough that I am following the path God is leading me on. It may involve an adoption of a sweet girl, or heart ache or something completely unexpected; yet I am confident of this: God will use these moments for our good and His glory.

We Are Expecting

I am writing this to announce our FAMILY'S plans to adopt our 7th child. We have waited while our home study was completed and now that we are almost finished I feel it's time to "DECLARE WHAT IS TO BE."  So, what are we expecting?

WE are expecting there to be doubters, naysayers and those who won't understand what we are doing.
WE are expecting mounds of paperwork and duplicates.

WE are expecting to tell every detail of our lives to people we don't know, and to give proof of all of our life  circumstances and have them scrutinized.

WE are expecting delays and obstacles.
WE are expecting to feel like We are on the edge of a cliff.....and God telling us to take the next step.

BUT WE ARE ALSO EXPECTING......

GOD to show us HIS heart and to grow ours.
GOD'S plan for a CHILD to be revealed.

The JOY that comes from following GOD'S direction.
MIRACLES that can't be contained.

GOD TO BE GLORIFIED.