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Introducing…

Well, after a little lost sleep…

a lot of prayer…

Ok.  That’s an understatement…

and God kindly reminding us about what’s important over and over again (and over)   (you think we’d learn by now)

and discussing the brevity of life anyways…

and how much we truly have to offer when we feel like we don’t by American standards…
(Hope the kids like camping as the only family vacations EVER!)

We’d like to introduce you to our son

Because we just couldn’t leave him behind.

 Loved
Chosen
 Cherished

He did not have a perfect start into this world, but my goodness, you have a mama and papa now little one and we will love you to pieces.  The more we reflected on it, the more we realized how perfectly God lined everything up just for you to come be in our family as well, baby.  Mama and papa were upset that there were delays getting your sister, and now we know why, we would never have met YOU!   He also orchestrated a couple in-your-face miracles, which we kept reminding ourselves of when we were making our decision.  No coincidences.  No holding back love you can give.

It’s no secret about how much God treasures you, just like your papa does.

 You are one in a million and we can’t wait to pour the love onto you that you deserve, we know you will blossom and grow.

You have two AMAZING siblings who will just adore you as well.  In fact, you will have a built in best friend who you will share a room with named Finley.  You two will share clothes, and maybe even cloth diapers, hehe.  (See what I mean, why not, right?)

Oh my, how these three bring me joy.

To be very honest, Andrew and I agonized this decision.  In our humanness and weakness, we didn’t think we could say yes to one more.  But God’s promises are real, and his blessings are rich when sacrifices are made which is beyond clear to us this week.  And the need is great.

Today we decided his name.  We chose it because of it’s meaning.  We chose to adopt our boy because of God, and that’s how we found the name Elijah, “My Lord is God.”  Today when we told Dasha and Sveta, they told us that Elijah is the same name in Russian as his Russian name, Ilya.  WHAT!?  It is meant to be.  We will call him Elijah and Ilya both, they are interchangeable, but in writing it will be the English spelling.

After our questions and hesitations subsided and we fully said yes to God, our hearts soared with joy for our boy.  How sweet will it be for our boys to be so close in age?  

We love you so very much, sweet Elijah Sawyer.

Plus, you are a pretty fantastic eater, no baby spoons for you!  I bet you will like mama’s cooking when you get home, even though I suppose your daily mush isn’t too bad for now… 

 AAANNNDDD…you already know how to drink from a cup!

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.
Proverbs 3:27
*******************
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’  These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” 
Matthew 22:37-39

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  • Meli la gringa June 17, 2012, 12:43 pm

    Love you! Love this! Let me know what we can do to help. I think my sister has an extra crib. 🙂

  • Carla June 17, 2012, 1:11 pm

    So exciting! Congratulation! He is so precious…they both are so precious! And I love his name…it’s one that we have picked out for our waiting child too!

  • Suzanne June 17, 2012, 2:14 pm

    I’ve been following your journey to Maria through Reese’s Rainbow and I am so happy for you all. How awesome that God led you to your son while you were meeting your daughter. He’s beautiful. Praying everything goes smoothly and you will have them both home quickly. God bless.

  • littlelola June 17, 2012, 2:23 pm

    That is just amazing! I was wondering why you were at the baby house in one of your previous blogs 🙂 Congrats on the newest addition

  • Lisa June 17, 2012, 2:57 pm

    Amy and Andrew- I am laying in bed sobbing as I read this. You two demonstrate the gospel in such a radical way. Praise be to the Lord for the example you set. Praying for your BEAUTIFUL family.

  • Kate June 17, 2012, 2:57 pm

    Praise God! I can’t say anything more really – I am overjoyed for Maria and now for Elijah! You are in our prayers and we want to bring you dinner when you are all home! Yay for your little ‘twins’ – we love our half homemade half hand picked set! SO SO blessed reading this – can’t wait to meet your big family!

  • Ann June 17, 2012, 3:20 pm

    Oh wow. Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.

    Articulate I am not, but overjoyed I am ♥

    Congratulations on your family of FIVE!

  • Signing Mama June 17, 2012, 3:27 pm

    What an amazing story. Congratss to your entirely new family!

  • Jed and Kimber June 17, 2012, 3:28 pm

    WOW!!!!!! What great news!!!!! Congratulations on your sweet addition.

  • HL June 17, 2012, 4:18 pm

    UM. YOU TWO ARE KILLING IT!!!! Every day I get more and more excited for you both!! As something I seriously want to do in the future too, its been so inspiring and encouraging to watch you go through this journey. You’re going to have a blast with all those babies to snuggle with! OH MAN! Straight away I want to offer any help and support you may need of my time (as a previous nanny and teacher too haha) with your new big family! SO FUN! Sending love- To Russia With Love!

  • Jewels June 17, 2012, 5:29 pm

    Hey Amy – thanks for all that you have been posting! We have mutual friends Kate Hamernick, Chauncee Hood and Kathleen Turner. You also taught at my sisters school (Twin Oaks) for a while (Sara Maguire). Anyways your blog has been bringing me to tears and softening my heart to adoption. We are all praying for your family of 5. Julie Feliccia

  • Louisa D June 17, 2012, 6:40 pm

    That’s fantastic – I can’t stop smiling! The photo of Maya holding Elijah is heartwarming. Ok, well all of the photos are!

    You know, after the last post I did wonder to myself whether you’d consider adopting another!

  • Lisa, Jason and Gus June 17, 2012, 7:18 pm

    You two are awesome. That is all.

  • Lou June 17, 2012, 7:32 pm

    What absolutely amazing news – congratulations to you both! I cannot wait for you guys to get everything finalised s you can bring both your new children home with you. What a wonderful family you will be.

    Lou 🙂

  • nicole aka gidget June 17, 2012, 7:33 pm

    I’ve been so blessed reading your story and seeing how God has moved in your hearts!! Amazing. xoxo

  • Rebecca Higgins June 17, 2012, 7:55 pm

    I am sitting in a public library exclaming out loud and crying! Yes, people are giving me weird looks, but I don’t care! I just love you guys’ heart!!! And I love what the two of you are doing to love the “least of these.” It’s especially meaningful to me that these are kids from a Russian orphanage–a part of the world that will forever hold a huge part of my heart. What not very many people know is that if my circumstances had allowed it, I would have tried to adopt a Russian child (even though I’m single) when I was living there. Knowing that these two precious children are being given a wonderful God-given gift of a family who loves and honors God blesses my heart to no end! I know there are many challenges ahead for all of you, but you will be in my continued prayers. My cousin Marla said that I’d have to plan a trip to California to meet you and your precious children. She is absolutely right! Blessings on all of you!

  • Kara June 17, 2012, 10:08 pm

    Oh wow! God is so good!!!

  • K June 18, 2012, 12:34 am

    He’s a cutie! I hope everything comes together soon, and you can take Elijah and Maya home (where they belong!)
    Katherine x

  • littlelola June 18, 2012, 4:46 am

    I did this with another family that adopted a few months back and wanted to see if its something you would be interested in…….. I made a $5.00 donation every day they were on Country posting about the adoption. We had a few others join in and made a good amount of money to put into their account for the adoption. WHO ELSE WANTS TO JOIN???? Oh and BTW I was looking at some of your other posts and I have got to tell you that your little Finn looks almost identical to my 2 month old when he was younger……

  • PerniPwr June 18, 2012, 10:34 pm

    aaron and i are beyond happy for you guys. and happy for us that we get to help love and support these two! i knew you wouldn’t be able to leave russia with only one…i knew it. god is so good!

  • Squiggly Rainbow June 20, 2012, 10:57 pm

    Just catching up on the news! Words cannot express how happy I am for you all xxxx

  • Laura Marino June 27, 2012, 4:53 am

    I am dying reading your blog! This is amazing and Elijah is so beautiful! Look at those smiles! You have confirmed my desire to adopt. Seeing those babies and hearing your desciptions encourages me to take action now. I feel like I can’t do it fast enough. I hope we can get in touch and you can share more of what you have learned throughout this process, besides what I read in your blog 🙂 What a blessing you two are to these children!

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