Love Knows No Distance

Update: 95 shirts have been ordered!!! If you had wanted to buy a shirt, but something came up, I did order some extras. I am still waiting on some Youth Mediums to come in, but the other shirts have now been shipped.

When God called us to adopt, He could have called us to any child. He could have called us to a child right here, but for whatever reason, He called us to Henry and Elliette. It would have been significantly easier and much, much cheaper for him to call us to adopt children here, but, you see, God doesn't see distance. He sees children. He sees orphans who desperately need someone to love them...orphans who need someone, anyone, to be their voice.....orphans who need someone willing to fight for them - to show them that they are worth it. He sees children who are longing for love and acceptance. He sees children whose only hope is someone willing to go the distance for them. He doesn't see country lines. He doesn't see some children as more deserving because they happened to be born here. He just sees children...orphans in need of the love of a family.  To Him, there is no distance too great where His love can't reach. We are His hands, and His feet, and He has called us to love beyond the distance.

LOVE is greater than distance.

Whenever you have children, it is almost as if each of your children carries a piece of your heart with them wherever they are. When your children are in your arms, your heart feels safe. But, if for some reason, you are separated from your children, it is almost as if part of your heart is missing. Our hearts feel their absence, and our arms long to hold them, but their absence does not change our love for them.  LOVE is greater than any distance. 

When my son, Isaac, left my arms for heaven, he took part of my heart with him. I long to kiss his fuzzy face and to look into his eyes one more time. My heart feels his absence now with every breath that I take. My arms ache to hold him, but my love for him will never fade, because my love for him knows no distance. My love for him will last forever. Although we are separated between this earth and heaven, my love for him still lives on, because my deep LOVE for him is greater than any distance that separates us.

LOVE is greater than distance.

Right now, part of my heart is in China. Although we may be separated by oceans, and continents, and country lines, and 8,000 miles, my love for Henry and Elliette is greater than any distance. My arms long to hold them, and my heart longs to tell them how desperately they are loved and wanted. And although I physically sense their absence, and although they are over half a world away, my love does not see the distance, but rather it sees MY SON and MY DAUGHTER waiting for me to get to them. There is no country too far, there is no mountain too high, there is no price too great, that would keep me from getting to them. LOVE is greater than any distance.

There is no distance, as a parent, that I will not go to to protect, or advocate, or fight for my children. Just as we moved over 1,000 miles away to get Isaac the medical care that he needed, and traveled over 1,000 miles away again to get Max the care that he needed, we will travel any distance to get to our children who are waiting for us..waiting for us to LOVE them..to advocate for them..to protect them..to fight for them.

LOVE knows no distance.

And, just as our love for our children is greater than any distance, our God's love is even greater. There is nothing that could ever separate us from His love. His love is greater than any distance. 

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

LOVE is greater than any distance.

In keeping with this theme, I designed this shirt to help us bring Henry and Elliette home. I hope you love it as much as I do. The meaning behind this shirt is so significant to me. Love is greater than the distance that separates me from Henry and Elliette.......greater than the distance that separates me from Isaac......and greater than anything the could ever separate me from the love of my God.

I hope that you will proudly wear this shirt knowing that you have helped overcome the distance between two orphans and their forever family. What does "LOVE > DISTANCE" mean to you?

We will be taking orders until January 31st, at which point I will turn the order in for printing. Shirts should arrive to you within 2 weeks from the date the order is turned in.

This 3/4 Length Sleeves Soft Baseball Raglan is available in sizes Adult S-2XL and Youth M, L, and XL. If there is enough interest in smaller youth sizes, I can do a separate order for Youth XS and S. The price for each shirt is $29 with FREE shipping. You can purchase your shirt from the drop down menu on the right hand side of our blog.

Adult Size Chart

Youth Size Chart

Blessed

This week, we celebrated both Max's and Koah's birthdays. This week, Koah turned 10 years old, and Max turned 3 years old. And, this week, as I look at them, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I am blessed to be their mommy. I am blessed that they are here and thriving. I am blessed to kiss their sweet faces and hold them in my arms. I do not take that blessing for granted. I know the emptiness of missing one of my children, and I know that I could have been missing them, too. But, they are here, and I am blessed.

It is hard to believe that 10 years ago I became a mommy for the first time. I will never forget that feeling....it has to be one of the best feelings in the world. Ten years ago, Koah gave me the best gift he could ever give me when he made me a mommy. He was 7 pounds 12 3/4 ounces of pure perfection. He was beautiful, and perfect, and healthy (or so we thought). I fell fiercely in love with him the moment I saw him. I loved every second of being a mom, and all was well with the world. During the next 7 1/2 years, he constantly filled our lives with joy. He was as close to perfect as any child could ever be. It wasn't my parenting skills, either...he was just born awesome.

But, what we didn't know was that Koah was living with an undiagnosed heart defect. He was living with a heart defect that could have taken his life at any second. But, God provided the miracle for saving Koah's life when he sent his baby brother, Isaac, to this earth. At the age of 7 1/2 years old, while Isaac was recovering from his second open heart surgery, Koah had heart surgery to fix his heart. And, I am so thankful for the gift God gave me when he gave my incredible son, Koah, to me twice - first on the day he was born, and then when He gave him back to me again the day his heart was fixed. I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I have the privilege of being his mom every day.

I realize from the depth of my heart how truly blessed I am to have him here with me. I am so thankful for the blessing of watching him grow up into an incredible, kind, compassionate, smart, funny, sweet, caring, and loving young man that I am so incredibly proud to call my son. I do not take that blessing for granted.

 

Not only am I blessed to have celebrated another birthday with Koah, I am blessed to have celebrated another birthday with Max. While I had the priviledge of  being Koah's mommy from the time he started growing under my heart, it wasn't until Max was 20 months old that I was given the privilege of being his mommy. I will never forget the day that I first saw him. He was so scared and so sick. We didn't know what the future would hold for Max, but we knew that his only hope for a future would be in a family, and we wanted to be that family. Even once we were home with him, his future was still unclear, but now 15 months later, with his third open heart surgery behind him (his first with us, but not his last), he is thriving and so full of life and joy. And, I am overwhelmed with gratitude once again for the gift God gave me when I became his mom for the very first time 15 months ago and when He gave him back to me again with a healthier and stronger heart 5 months later.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Max, because it tells a story. This is a little boy who, only 16 months ago, did not know what it meant to be loved, and here he is signing his sign for "I love you".  He now not only knows what it means to be loved, but he knows how to give love....how to be love. And, this, my friends, is the gift of adoption.

The magnitude of the blessing that God has given me in these two boys, and in Abigail, Ryder, Isaac, Henry, and Elliette does not escape me. I am beyond grateful. I am beyond blessed. I am beyond loved.