Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: Our Abba, Father & Our New Nephew's Adoption

Giving God Glory

Our Amazing Abba, Father! - For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God... Romans 8:14-16

I cannot fully express in words how excited we are about our new nephew!!!! ~ Nathaniel Qiao Fisher. Nathaniel means gift/given of God, which is exactly how my sister (Wendy) and brother-in-law (Adam) feel about this little guy. Qiao was one of his Chinese names which means handsome/skillful. We have been praying for this child for a long time! It is a joy to "see" him, and we can't wait to meet him! Adam and Wendy have been matched with him and are waiting to receive their LOA (Letter of Acceptance) which is the formal acceptance from China. That should arrive in 2-3 months and then after that they will wait for their immigration and travel approval, which should be 10-14 weeks after the LOA. Then they will travel to to China to meet Nathaniel and bring him home!

A precious boy and a precious gift!

Wendy shared the following (see below) with me about one week before they were matched with their son. Her words definitely resonate with our hearts since we feel the same about God calling us to adopt Josiah, and Josiah reminds us of the precious privilege we have of being chosen and adopted by our heavenly Abba, Father! Below are some excerpts of what Wendy shared recently ~

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” – James 1:27

“Father to the fatherless defender of widows is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.” – Psalms 68:5-6

...One of the verses often addressed in adoption messages is the above verse in James. I do believe that God calls us to care for the orphans, and adopting a child is one way He has called the Fishers to participate in that, but the Lord has shown me how adoption is so much more than caring for the orphans.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” – Romans 8:14-17

For me, adoption is such a powerful way of God expressing His love through my life. He adopted me as one of His own and now I have the privilege and opportunity to do the same. One of the responses we have received when talking about how we want to adopt versus have children of our own, is why would you choose adoption? There are so many "hard" "unsuccessful" adoption stories. Why would you willingly choose the harder path?

Well, for one, I truly believe that God has laid it on our hearts and called us to adopt. He never promised us an easy life. Actually the opposite. To ignore His calling, and choose the "easy" path, I believe will end up being so much harder.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:12-13

I realize this will probably not be the easiest thing we do, although being a parent will be difficult regardless, but I know that if God has called us to it, He will provide whatever we need to get through it. Our child may be more difficult than a biological child, but I think of all the times I have been obstinate and rebellious against my heavenly Father. How many times I have broken His heart and caused undue sorrow? But, He still loves me anyway. He still chooses me as His daughter. He is still patient, kind, long-suffering. He is not easily angered. He does not keep record of my wrongs. He always protects, always hopes, and always perseveres. He loves me, period. End of story.

There are so many days when our adoption process hits me and I am overwhelmed that God has called me and given me this opportunity to express this amazing adoption story here on earth. I know it won't be easy, but I know that God will use this step of faith to craft a beautiful story of His love, grace, and redemption.

So many more verses exist concerning adoption. When you take the time to look, you can see it is something very close to God's heart and has become something very close to ours. This is just a tip of the iceberg of our heart and reasoning for adoption...

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts & Marriage Memories

The beauty of God's sovereignty ~ The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 - Wes and I had our vision for how our homeschooling would change and look when Noah started kindergarten (which will be this fall!) based on principles of equipping. Starting with a phone call this month from a charter school homeschool program - one day/week - that I completely forgot I had put Noah's name on their waiting list, the Lord has used several circumstances and also several people's wise counsel to direct our steps on a different path for homeschooling in the elementary school years than we had previously visioned and planned. Just to be clear - we are still homeschooling our boys; it is just going to look a little different than we had originally planned. We are very excited about our new homeschooling plans and are grateful for the blessing and beauty of God's sovereignty!

In light of the Lord redirecting our homeschooling vision, Wes and I enjoyed an "educational" kind of date this month. We went to a parent meeting for prospective parents of another charter school homeschool program that we are considering for in the future. It is a joy to be unified with Wes on how we want to disciple / educate / invest in our boys and is fun to explore the options together. :)

Praises & Prayers

Various Loved Ones - Continued prayer for wisdom and for Christ's strength and perspective as they are in the midst of various trials (James 1:2-5).

Aaron & Kim - James 1:5 for wisdom and discernment with decisions.

Adam & Wendy - Praise for being matched in the adoption process with their sweet boy from China.

Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done. Prayer of Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit would abound in Dad's & Tami's lives during this trial. Also, prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom with this trial.

Our Family - Praise for the Lord being our great shepherd. We have seen His leading and guidance with decisions involved with homeschooling.

Wes - Praise for the Lord giving Wes wisdom and direction with his back re-injuries. Continued prayer for Wes to continue to be a strong light and witness for Christ at work in the midst of a very spiritually dark environment and also for spiritual protection (Ephesians 6:10-20). Also, prayer for the Lord to heal his back in the Lord's perfect timing and ways.

Christina - Continued praise for how the Lord is blessing me with opportunities to invest spiritually in our sons' and other's lives. Continued prayer of Deuteronomy 6:5 that I would be faithful to disciple Noah, Josiah, and all those the Lord wants me to and also prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom and direction for priorities and plans in the near future.

Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise for the Lord growing Noah in using a kind tone of voice. Prayer of Psalm 19:14 that the Lord would grow Noah in asking kindly rather than making demands when he wants something.
Josiah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Continued praise for the Lord growing Josiah in self-control and also in communication. Continued prayer for the Lord to grow Josiah in his gross motor skills (ex. progressions involved with walking) in His perfect timing.

Family Fun

Daddy & sons - reading the Bible before bed

Dozer chewed right through Sierra's leash one day at the park :(

Snuggling with sweet Josiah

Fun at the Firestation

We have been visiting Wes more often at work as a result of his new schedule.

"Driving" the Firetruck & ATV

Firefighter wannabes

AWANA Grand Prix

Noah prepping & painting his car

"Rainbow Turbo" - Noah won 2nd place in Novelty * Racing

Some people joked that Noah won 1st place in "Fuel Economy" because his weight kept falling off, which caused his car to go extremely slow & to need some help to cross the finish line. ;)

Big bro helping little bro take off his coat :)

Watching & waiting at the AWANA Grand Prix

Noah News

Age - 4 years old

Cute Communication -

*One of his favorite phrases lately ~ "Oh yeah!" ~ said with great enthusiasm.

*We picked out donuts for all of us after a field trip. The boys and I ate ours at the donut shop, and we saved Wes' for when he got home from work the next day. Wes was teasing Noah that night over the phone, "Don't eat my donut!" Noah replies, "I willn't." We're not for sure if Noah meant he "will" or he "won't." ;)

*One of his frequent questions lately ~ "Do you want to see this?"

*One of Noah's toys got trapped far underneath our couch, and Noah tried to lift the couch to get it but was unsuccessful. Noah told Wes, "You can do it because you are hulk strong!"

*When we ask Noah what his favorite color is, Noah responds with either "all the colors" or "rainbow color." I guess he is taking after Mommy because rainbows were a favorite of mine when growing up too. :)

Latest Likes

Hot Wheels cars

Magic Tree House books

Rolling over our big, green ball

"Reading" (looking at books) on his bed

Running, jumping, climbing

Showing some personality in pretend play! :)

Noah really enjoys Hot Wheels

Noah took several naps this month - which is not the norm so he must be growing - I found him in some interesting positions ;)

Noah likes to spontaneously go upstairs in his room, sit quietly on his bed, & look at books * Jumping!!!

Rolling over & back on the big, green ball is one of Noah's favorite activities

*Video - We are trying to convert a video of Noah for this month to the correct format, so I'll post 2 videos of him next month. :)

Josiah Joys

Age - 19 months

18 Month Old Stats - his appointment ended up being later on

Weight - 23.5 lbs. 33%

Height - 32 in. 31%

Head - 18 in. 9%

1sts - folding hands to pray, making animal sounds ~ lion (roar sound), dog ("woof"), bear (growl sound), sheep ("bah"), pointing to body parts ~ nose, eyes, ears, mouth, arms, feet

Teeth - 12

New words - Bahble (Bible), bow (bowl), Whoa Whoa (Dozer), boo (spoon), nah (no), pop, "Mmmm" - if something tastes good

Latest Likes

Balloons

B-I-B-L-E song & Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Pretend talking on cell phones

Shaking head "no" a lot - even if his answer is really "yes"

"Dancing" = head-bobbing to the beat of the music

Josiah enjoys pretending to "talk"/listen on cell phones (real & pretend)

All smiles on the swing

Josiah is a BIG fan of "baboons" (as he calls them)

Crib fun - Sound asleep - after taking off his pants & mesh bumper ;) * Stare down * Big smile! :)

Precious Pray-ers ~ Josiah - 18 months * Reminiscing about Noah - 17 months

Cute boy

*Video - Josiah dancing = head bobbing to the beat

Bro Bonding

Big bro lovin' on lil' bro

Having fun in their "play drawers" in the kitchen

Working on their puzzles

Noah attempting to style Josiah's hair * Sweet moment

Crawling together

Homeschool ~ & Preschool ~ Highlights

This month we did a History unit study on Martin Luther King Jr.

Click on this link if interested in the FREE preschool skills/benchmarks that I use - Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence of Skills

Click on this link for a corresponding preschool book that I use - Core Knowledge: What Your Preschooler Needs to Know

History Unit: Martin Luther King Jr.

Art - Collective artwork: Taryn, Noah, Colton, & Saylor holding up their masterpiece that they made together - "Hands of Peace Wreath."

Writing: They each wrote or traced their name by their hands.

We read books & watched video clips about Martin Luther King Jr., and we also discussed biblical truths & practical application involved such as loving others - no matter what the color of their eyes, hair, skin, etc. ~

Galatians 3:28 - There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

*Video - Music & Bible - Singing "Let My People Go" ~ Negro Spiritual song with Mrs. Brown :)

Bible - We studied the 10 plagues this month. The children enjoyed reenacting how God parted the Red Sea & let the Israelites cross safely on dry land. In the photo, they are pretending the space between the upturned couches is the parted Red Sea & that they are trying to get across quickly since Pharoah's army is chasing them. ;)

Reading / Writing / Art: Fingerpaint activity - Noah, Colton, Hannah (her & her mom joined us for a couple times to get some ideas & encouragement with starting homeschooling), Saylor, & Taryn

The kids had a lot of fun painting the letter & number we were working on that week, & then they took turns saying the letter sound & counting to the number.

Then we let them create whatever they wanted to. Notice the difference between the boys' & girls' artwork. ;)

Writing & Art - Making a birthday card for cousin Sawyer: Noah signed his name & wrote the numbers "4" for Sawyer since Sawyer was turning 4, and "5" for Noah since Noah would be turning 5 next month. Noah & I wrote "Happy Birthday Sawyer" together.

Life Skills: Cleaning - Vacuuming * Mopping * Sweeping

Life Skills: Removing appliances - We had some appliances start breaking down this month, so Noah helped Daddy remove them.

Firestation Field Trip

Field Trip to the Firestation - Learning about fire safety skills & other skills involved with the job of firefighting.

See the end of "More Memories" section for more photos from our time at the firestation :)

Memorable Moment of the Month

In a matter of a few days, Noah (while we were right there watching but unable to act quick enough)...

sliced his shin at the firestation on a firetruck,
was doing "ninja moves" outside on/over an electrical box, lost his footing, & smacked his face hard on the concrete,
climbed onto Josiah's crib, lost his grip, and went rapidly nose-first onto another part of the crib.

You can kind of notice in the photo Noah's scratched cheek, black eye, and bloody nose. Poor guy! We are grateful that the Lord graciously protected him from more serious injuries!

More Memories

Making snowmen crafts with Nana * Nana reading to the boys

Growing in Discipleship - The Lord blessed me with an opportunity to learn more about discipleship this month through some teaching by Resound Now - a women's ministry that seeks to make disciples who make disciples. The teaching focused on making disciples intentionally and relationally as Jesus did based on His Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. The principles of the Great Commission that were shared involved 4 E's: Engage, Establish, Equip, & Expand. I enjoy all the aspects involved with making disciples - building relationships with people, sharing the gospel with them, and investing in and equipping them. However, I have forgotten the importance of encouraging them to go and make disciples. It has been fun to see the Lord at work and growing me in this.