"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. "

Jeremiah 29:11

Happy Birthday, sweet Isaac!

[[[ I originally wrote this post last year, on Isaac's 2nd birthday...but as I read it again today with tears I realized that, honestly, the words are even more true today than they were a year ago...please, OH PLEASE, say a prayer tonight!! ]]]

Somewhere in Guatemala, Isaac turned 3 years old today! We trust that the Lord is keeping him safe, as we continue to pray for him as a family. It would mean so much today if you all would take a minute to lift him up in prayer as well!!

When I think back over the 8 months that we called Isaac "ours"...I am reminded that our most important task as parents is to entrust our children into the Lord's hands....to remember that they are HIS first and foremost. I will be honest in saying that at times my heart aches for our "loss"...and I try to make sense of it all....but the reality is, we serve a sovereign God who makes NO mistakes...Isaac was (and continues to be) a beautiful part of the Master's plan for the Timmons family.

One of the songs that will always, always, always remind me of our adoption journey is "Blessed Be Your Name"...

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

LAMININ....it took my breath away. Twice.

I don't even know how to start this post.
"Hi. How are you? Let me tell you about laminin." ???

Good enough.

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio...and I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned....but I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being...how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire...etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) .....and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking...."How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???"

Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath.
And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!
It was because he started talking about laminin.
I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them :"Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue." You see....laminins are what hold us together....LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE.

But now I do.
And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....
Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a "Christian portrayal" of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...


Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!
Amazing.
The glue that holds us together....ALL of us....is in the shape of the cross.
Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth , visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER. "
Colossians 1:15-17

Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool.
Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together...one cell to another....by the cross.

You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin "glue" would look like long before Adam even breathed his first breath!!

We praise YOU, Lord!!

And just so you know...I was so awestruck by seeing laminin for the first time, that I decided to watch the message again the next day on my treadmill.

Yep....same thing happened...but this time with tears in my eyes!

The reason for my squeals of joy.....

You may remember me asking you over the past months (and quite frankly, years!) to pray for my friend Stephanie and her sweet little girl "K" (I am not supposed to use her whole name until she is home), who has been held captive in the red-tape-world-of-Guatemalan-adoptions for a VERY LONG TIME.....

good news, people.....

"K" is OUT OF PGN!!!!!!
This is huge.
HUGE!!!!!
PGN is a very, very major "near the end" step in Guatemalan adoptions. And it means that she is "officially" John and Stephanie's daughter!!! and a little sister to Daniel!!!!

When I read the news from Stephanie, my heart felt like it would jump out of my chest...and then tears came quickly as I remembered the amazing relief that our family felt when we received the call that Micah was out of PGN! ((and I should just mention right here that as difficult as our adoption of Micah was....it looks like a walk in the park compared to what John, Stephanie and Daniel have endured!!))

Anyway, please join me in thanking God for this wonderful news!!!
I have no idea why He has allowed "K"'s adoption to linger on so long....but I DO know that He is sovereign...and I DO know that His ways are perfect.

AND I ALSO KNOW that Stephanie has walked this long road with her Lord, and she has shown so many people (including me) what it looks like--- in real life--- to trust in Him even through the questions and the heartaches!!!

Stephanie....I can't wait to share the news that "K" is HOME!!! It will be soon!!