Keeping Up With The Joneses

We've been counting down the days to our new court date. When we heard about it, March 15 seemed so very, very far away. Each day brings us a little closer and now it is finally March!
We really wanted to keep ourselves occupied the last few weeks to help with the waiting and boy, have we accomplished that goal! Along with everyone we know, we've been sick, not-sick, sick and hopefully not-sick for good. We've also basically redecorated our entire house, inside and out. We have spent many, very late nights working on so many projects.
Adding to the list, we celebrated the 3rd birthday of our awesome Nephew Will, in typical Team Jones fashion. As part of the decor, Tori created a 9 ft. long train from cardboard boxes to hold the gifts and for the kids to climb in for pictures. It was a spectacular day celebrating our favorite little guy.
Then, we got to have the first, major, grown-up party at our house last weekend. It was about time since we have almost lived here for a year! Our friends Jeff and Allison are having a baby boy, so we had all of the church staff over to celebrate. It was so fun to relax with friends from work and NOT talk about work, but simply get together to show Jeff and Allison how excited we are for them and give their little guy some gifts! We also got to show everyone Zoe's room, playroom and pictures of our sweet girl throughout the night. It was such an honor to be the ones hosting a night full of blessings for Jeff and Allison's precious baby boy. Tori had been wanting to have this party so bad since she found out Allison was pregnant. Who knew that it would be such a huge blessing to us?! We had so much fun getting everything ready that we didn't have much time to think about the waiting. Then that night we celebrated the new life of this special boy we're about to meet and all we felt was joy and excitement for our friends!
This weekend we were spent, beat, worn out, dog-tired, exhausted... We'd been going so hard for the last few weeks that we just had to sleep in and watch TV in bed, which made for a fantastic, lazy Saturday.
With everything going on it's been easy to miss out on what God has been doing for us. As I look back it is so cool to see how the Lord provided for us in these days of waiting and it gives hope to the days ahead. He knew we needed some major fun events for us to throw our heart and soul into. So, Will was born 3 years ago and Allison got pregnant several months ago. What part of God's great plan will tomorrow hold and when was it set in motion? It is crazy to see how His plan unfolds. It is awesome to see how He works. It is humbling to see how much He loves us.
So, even when things aren't joyful, even when little things remind us of our precious child, even when there is no party, even on days when it is hard to smile; We can rest easy, we can look forward with hope and we can praise our God! He is the one who led us to our Zoe and He is the one who will bring her home to us in His perfect time. His plan is coming alive in surprising new ways everyday.
So, we praise Him for the day we first saw her sad little face. We praise him for the day we saw her first little half-grin. We praise Him for the day we hugged and kissed her as she laughed and smiled and squealed! We praise Him, praise Him, praise Him for the days that are still to come.
It's finally March! Still, we nervously anticipate the "Ides of March" and ask that you keep praying with us for great news. On March 15 we long to hear that we have passed court and Zoe is one more step closer to coming home forever.
It's finally March and the journey continues! Thanks for being with us through it all.