Thank God For Moms! May 19, 2010

What fun it has been to hear from all these daughters!! We hope you’ve been enjoying it, too, and that you’ve been encouraged! Today’s entry is from Julie VanLue (soon to be Brown!) about her mommy, Cissy.

“We Call Her Mommy
It was almost 8 years ago that God brought my sister Angeli into our home. After years of trying to get pregnant, my parents had decided to pursue fostering and adoption. It had been on my mom’s heart for most of her adult life, particularly to adopt little girls, however my dad was more apprehensive about the whole process and if this was God’s will for our family. Once we held Angeli in our arms, it all became clear – she was meant to be a VanLue. Though adopting her was a tough and challenging road, she officially and legally became a part of our family a few months later. Shortly after, her half sister, Kristin was born, and we were able to adopt her as well. A few years later, my mom’s dream of adopting internationally came true when God brought Katherine Mei from Jianxi, China into our family.

Mom, I would like to publicly thank you for truly giving your life away. When others were telling you to sit back, relax, and enjoy having older children that could basically take care of themselves, you instead “started over”. Thank you for loving the unloved, welcoming ones that others discarded, and being mommy to those with no family. Thank you for your selfless sacrifices that you make every day, and most of the time goes unnoticed by the ones around you. Thank you for making our home a place of refuge for those who have no one to turn to and nowhere else to go. Thank you for loving your Savior enough to take His word seriously when He says to care for the orphan. Watching you and dad walk this out has given me even more of a heart for adoption and I hope that God blesses my family with an adopted treasure. Thank you for embracing these girls, who otherwise would have had no hope or future. Now they have someone to call “mommy”, and I am so grateful that I can call you “mommy” as well. You really are changing the world, one heartbeat at a time. I love you, and happy Mother’s day, Mommy!!”