What a difference a year makes
Monday, October 20, 2008 at 9:55AM 
Janelle has been home for one year now!... Rick and Starla have adopted 3 children from China and two of them Lifesong had the privilege of serving through our Adoption Grant & Loan ministry. The Kull family is incredible - living out their faith in very tangible ways while serving as missionaries in Mexico. These are the real-deal, genuine, committed Christian families that LIfesong loves to serve and come alongside of financially to help make adoptions a reality.
Check out the excerpts below and see Rick & Starla's heart in this recent post celebrating the one year mark...
...Last October 8th, 2007, we met a scared, confused little girl, who wanted nothing more than to go back to what was familar and known, and escape from us. In fact, she did try to escape from our hotel more than once.
Fast forward a year, and see what difference God, love, parents, brothers and sisters, and time makes. It has not always been an easy or fun year, but I can say that we have all learned and grown as the year has progressed. Janelle had to learn pretty much from scratch. All of her years of growing up in an orphanage did not teach her how to live in a family. Her academic education was pretty limited...
this adoption was in God's plan. He has equipped both Janelle and our family for all of the difficulties of this year. The positives far outweigh the hard times. Janelle has blossomed, and learned so much.
Janelle has learned what it means to be part of a family...to care for each other, look out for each other, and work together. She is learning to choose to do what is right, and not always choose the easy way to do something. She is learning to say, "I'm sorry"--a big step for her, as it has been very difficult for her to ever admit that she is wrong. She has learned what it means to have a dad who has endless patience and love towards her.
We started school at the kindergarten level, learning the A B C's, learning to read, write, add and subtract. Now, just one year later, she is working at 4th grade level in most subjects, and about to start 6th grade math. We are hoping that after this school year she will be ready to try 7th grade work, and be at the level of other kids her age.
Most importantly, she is learning that there is a God who loves her. This is something that she did not learn in her orphanage, and probably never would have heard if she had stayed there. She enjoys going to church, even though it is all in Spanish, and she can't understand a lot. She has memorized many verses, along with her siblings, in morning devotions. She knows who Jesus is, and we trust that not too long in the future she will be able to understand what He has done for her. It has been a good year....and we look forward to another year of seeing God's work in Janelle's life.
Reader Comments (3)
Thank you so much for helping my family adopt Janelle, we love her so much and can not imagine our lives with out her. God bless you all.
-Lancy
Lancy - it's our joy & privilege...thankful our Father gives us the funding to do it...and that He calls such awesome families like you!...
andy
We know what it is for a child to literally want to go back to. Praise God for his faithfulness!