REDEMPTION! The Lord has done GREAT things and we are FILLED with JOY!

"Yes, the LORD has done amazing things for us! 

What joy!"

Psalm 126:3, NLT

Four years ago today (Dec 28th), we attended a service with many of you - the Celebration of Ellie Kate's Life, full of dancing, pink balloons, cookies, and even art.  We heard from precious Elders and Pastors who spoke life to all of us through God's Word.  We worshiped the Lord together, and collectively thanked God for Our Daughter's Beautiful Life - a life so short and yet a life that left a daily impact upon me as her mother, and a life who left an impact on so many of you as well.  Watch Ellie Kate's Life Celebration Here: EK Life Celebration 2012

During the time of mourning and healing these past four years; during this time of soul-searching, learning who we are in Christ, learning God’s character . . . we’ve heard so much.  

 We've heard about God's faithfulness and of His goodness.  

• We've been told that, "Everything happens for a reason" and that Ellie Kate's death wasn't purposeless or "In vain".
• We have heard of His Providence and that NOTHING can happen outside of what He allows or even causes
• We've heard that God knows our hearts and our desires and that He even places certain desires in our hearts; that He FULFILLS the desires of our hearts that will bring Him glory and those that will be for our good.
• We've been told of God's radical, reckless love for us and for our children - of His love for ALL of our children, even the little girl who suffered and died.
• We have heard that God will cause ALL of this - the good, the bad, the ugly - to work together for OUR good and for HIS glory, and that the same is true for our children.



But in all of this, what DO we believe and why?

 Do I still stand by what I've said I believe and that which

I believe God to has shown me in the past?

Has God changed? 

• I don't pretend to have tasted the worst this life has to offer.  All I know is what we've been through and what we've faced and that, has felt like a spiritual death, a mental death, an emotional death so many times over, and if it weren't for God's faithfulness and for the Hope He gives us through eternal life, we would have succumb to these trials in some way, shape or form.  

• We have felt like we've walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psalm 23:4).
• At times, we've felt abandoned by God and haven't felt His presence.  We've had to learn to choose to trust Him, trust His promises, because nothing else has made sense.  Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief (Mark 9:24)!  
• We have truly experienced "groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26)", and I know so many of you can relate to this deep crushing of your spirits.  
• We've wondered if God would fulfill His promises - if He would indeed cause things to work for our good, for the good of our living children (we know He's worked it for Ellie Kate's good bc she is complete and whole with Jesus).

Where we've experienced "groanings too deep for words", we are now experiencing JOY too immense of human definition.  

Where we've walked "through the Valley of the Shadow of Death", we are now skipping through the mountaintops of new life and new beginnings!  

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There are people reading this today and God has a message for some of you.

 It’s a clear message:

Sweet Momma, Our Father-God wants you to know that He IS working intimately and intricately on your behalf and on behalf of your children.  You will see His Victory soon and you will see the goodness on behalf of your children!

Struggling Daddy, Our Good, Father is taking care of ALL of your needs - emotional, mental and physical, so listen to His voice.  He's taking care of your precious children too. You will see His Victory soon and you will see the goodness on behalf of your children!  It will be better than you could ever have planned!

 

On December 23^rd 2012, Ellie Kate left this earth to spend eternity with Jesus. 

 On that day four years ago, we held Ellie for the last time and it took my breath away, as I watched them wrap that sweet body in a white sheet, carrying Ellie Kate out to a van and driving her away from us forever. 

On December 23^rd, 2016, Bowen Jane McLaughlin was born into our family through adoption.  This past Friday, God took my breath away when I witnessed our fifth child being born; when the doctor wrapped Bowen Jane in a white blanket of sorts, and handed her to me to hold forever.  On Christmas Morning, we welcomed Bowen into our home.

Who, but God could make this happen in such an extraordinarily exquisite way?!  Better than we could ever dream up or ever begin to hope. 

Without yet going into details, I can tell you that we are going through a private attorney, who is a precious Believer and friend.  Through God's goodness, we were connected to the birth mom through one of Ellie Kate's former home health nurses.  NO doubt, Ellie Kate has played a big role in all of this and we wouldn't have our Bowen Jane without our eldest daughter, of that we are sure.

This most certainly came to us, out of nowhere, although we had publically expressed our desire for adopting and had shared the things God so fiercely laid on our hearts, burning it even brighter starting December 18th, 2015, when He led me to post about it on FB.  

The process has involved friends and strangers, Believers and those who do not know the Lord yet personally.  We’ve become close to our Birth Mom and to her little family.  Mike and I rest, knowing we have literally stood back and watched God at work.  We haven’t pushed or prodded or even sought things out.  We’ve sought godly counsel from our Home Church, from Dear Friends, from other parents who’ve gone through adoption, and from parents who’ve adopted after burying a child with special needs.  God has so literally surrounded us with a great cloud of fully-knowledgeable people who’ve spoken truth into our lives during these last many months.

  

 

 

REDEEM: to buy back, repurchase; to get or win back. 
 To repair or restore.

Through these four short years, moments of which have seemed agonizingly long, God has shown Himself to each of us in real ways, and the greatest way He has done that is through the birth of Miss Bowen Jane McLaughlin, this perfect baby girl who was born on Ellie Kate's Fourth Heaven Day, December 23th.  

She is Our Daughter, whom God has called us to adopt,
Our Daughter whom God has so clearly given to us! 

While so much of Our Journey remains a mystery, with confidence,

I CAN tell you the following . . . 

• For the Believer, God REDEEMS that which has been lost. God redeems us as humans, giving us eternal life with Him and abundant life here on earth.  God REDEEMS the broken things - the things we break on our own, because of our sin.  He redeems the things stolen by this broken, evil world

• God IS GOOD, even when it doesn't feel like it, ESP when it doesn't feel like it or when you can't see it.
• God IS working it all for your good, for the good of your children, for the good of ALL who love Him.  You can trust Him, no matter what, even if you must CHOOSE to trust. 
• God doesn't think any less or any different of you when you question Him or when you choose to trust (when you don't feel like trusting), or even when you or can't feel Him.  This doesn't make you any less of a Believer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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   Your Father loves you the same, no matter what you say or what you do!  There is NOTHING that can change His amount of love for you nor the giddy, passionate way He feels about you as His Child! 
• God listens to the desires of your heart, Friend.  Oftentimes, He places those desires IN your heart so he knows them before you do!  God WILL fulfill those beautiful desires, the ones which seem so impossible, the ones you know that the Father-God gave to you.

 You just wait and see, Friends - if He's done it for us, He will do it for you.  REDEMPTION.  He WILL redeem what you are facing, what you've been through and what you will soon go through.  He WILL turn mourning into dancing, just as He promises for us as Believers.  Don't lose hope.  CHOOSE to believe Him, even when you don't feel like it

(esp when you don't feel like it), Mark 9:24.  

Conner, Meeting Ellie Kate for the first time - Dec 5, 2005

Bowen Jane, Going Home - December 25, 2016

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Our hearts are overflowing with humbleness, with gratitude,

with thankfulness as we look in awe at God's Providence. 

Will we still hurt?  Absolutely, and I imagine we will hurt even more deeply than we've experienced thus far, as reality sets in and we come to know that Ellie Kate won't get to love on or play with Bowen here on earth.  Bowen Jane the only sibling who won't have a chance to remember EK and wasn't able to see her in her earthly body like the others.  I find myself accidently calling Lucy, "Ellie Kate" during these last days bc it seems so similar to what we've already faced.  Ellie was just this size, just the same, when we brought Lucy home.  There will be many things that will be difficult in the days to come, and we aren't ignoring that.

We KNOW the heartache will continue and we know that Satan will come to steal our joy and our hope.  We KNOW too though, now more than EVER before,

how FAITHFUL AND TRUE Our God is!

We thank you for your continued prayers over this month of December - a month so full of heartache and now joy, as well.  We thank you too for your many texts, calls, emails, and messages as you've encouraged us with your words during Ellie Kate's Month of Reckless Love. 
 Thank you for saying her name, “Ellie Kate”.  
Thank you for sharing her story. 
 Thank you for recklessly loving, serving and giving to those around you!  

Miss Ellie Kate McLaughlin

If you ever have doubted God's existence, look upon Our Story.  HE.IS.REAL. He is active and alive; He is good Father.  Soon, you will be here in our position, telling others about His goodness and the fulfillment of His promises!

Ellie Kate, Dec 2005

Bowen Jane, Dec 2016

  

We are proof though, that God WILL, CAN and DOES so gladly take the Broken and make it into something more beautiful than anything ANYONE in the world could ever, possibly imagine!!!

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen", Ephesians 3:20-21

 With Our Love and with Thanksgiving beyond Description,

Mike, Ryan, Conner, Henry,
Lucy Belle, Bowen Jane (and Ellie Kate from Heaven)!

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Many sweet friends have asked about end-of-year giving, so with that in mind, we share the following information (simply click on the links below):

• NKH Crusaders - Supporting Research - funds donated go solely toward NKH research at the University of Colorado and Denver Children's Hospital, or the research efforts at Notre Dame University, and/or the new research efforts at Boston Children's Hospital

• OKC Hope Link - the 501c3 God led us to start in 2007,  ministering to families whose children suffer from rare, serious and undiagnosed disorders / outreach to families who have lost children due to disease or illness
• McLaughlin Family Medical Fund - through Helping Hands Ministries, a 501c3 which pays medical bills directly or reinmburses via medical receipt (seen under 'Ellie Kate Memorial Fund').