I Love To Tell The Story

Hello everyone out there in blog land!  Today is a wonderful day!  Yesterday we went to court and Elizabeth Grace is officially an Ivie!  We will be getting her birth certificate with our names on it as her mom and dad!  When we were in the courtroom and the judge was looking over our paperwork and homestudy, the first thing he said was...."Ohhhhhh..  I see we have a couple of people that love Disney!"  I let him know that there was no doubt about it!  Then the judge stated that he saw only one problem.  In my mind I was thinking.......what did our attorney forget.......really.....what could be the problem.......but the judge looked at us and said, "It looks like I have two people in front of me that will probably spoil this little girl."  We looked at him and said, "Yes, sir!"   The judge asked us to raise our right hands and asked us if we are aware that we are adopting Elizatbeth Grace and that she is going to be just like our biological daughter.  The judge  asked us if we promise to take care of her.  He asked us if we were aware that we would have to provide finacially for her, provide her with a home, amd meet her needs. The judge told us that he hated tell us this but were we aware that if we divorced then we would still have to provide for her.  He stated that one parent might have sole custody if that happened,  we stated that we did! Then the judge said she is officially your daughter.  Then the judge signed the decree for adoption. Tears of joy just overflowed.  We could not believe our dream of adopting Elizabeth Grace had finally come true!!!!!  I was so emotionally overwhelemed! 

I want to end this blog with an old hymn titled "I Love to Tell The Story."  I think this sums up how we feel about our adoption journey..... Please read the lyrics!
I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory,
of Jesus and his love. 
I love to tell the story,
because I know 'tis true;
it satisfies my longings
as nothing else can do. 
Refrain:
I love to tell the story,
'twill be my theme in glory,
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story of Elizabeth Grace!  She was once the "unseen things above."  God was taking care of all the details when we weren't even looking.  God was working it all out.  He had the big picture.
I love to tell the story of Elizabeth Grace because this shows all of God's glory and love.  His fingerprints are all over this.
I love to tell the story of Elizabeth Grace because I know it is true.  I know God will use this story to encourage others in their belief, hope and relationship with His Son Jesus!
I love to tell the story of Elizabeth Grace because it satisfied our longing to be parents!

Just like the refrain states:  I love to tell the story,
                                         twill be my theme in glory,
                                         to tell the old, old story
                                         of Jesus and His love.

We will love to tell the story of Jesus and His love for us and Elizbeth Grace!  We hope you can pass this story on to encourage others in their faith, too!  We hope that you have a story that you can tell others about how Christ has impacted your life!  Once you realize what your story is, then you will love to tell it over and over again.  You won't want to tell it because it's about you, but because it gives God all the glory He deserves!