A Bride Adorned

A couple of weeks before her wedding, Lissie visited the hairdresser for a practice run on the hairdo she would wear on her special day. Her sister, Natasha, accompanied her to take photos.

Before long, the hairstylist had arranged Lissie's locks just as the bride-to-be had dreamed.

 When she returned home, her sister, Daria, was ready to practice the wedding day makeup. As Daria worked, the rest of Lissie's sisters and I stood in wonder as a radiant bride emerged.

We clamored for Lissie to don her gown and the transformation was complete. Daria then put on the finishing touch...

I couldn't miss that my little girl was all grown up, ready to be a wife.

We shifted the beautiful bride-to-be to another room for different lighting and continued to marvel at what God had prepared for Eric.

...and then Natasha suggested we take some photos outside.

Her sisters gathered her gown and we stepped into the warm glow of autumn sunshine.

During this family event, even Lissie's beloved pooch, Sunshine, got to join in on the joy!

We put the dog back inside and Lissie moved into the beauty of the afternoon. 

We were captivated by how her veil moved poetically in the light breeze.

We finished this practice confident that Lissie was ready for her wedding day.

I finished the afternoon stunned yet again by my great God. I couldn't get over the the wonder of a mother having the opportunity to fellowship with her daughters in this setting. The shared hours had been magical. We'd laughed together as we relished Lissie's joy at this final step in the preparation to marry the man of her dreams. 

The bride was radiant that afternoon as she anticipated her wedding day. Her radiance emanated from love of her savior Jesus Christ. This devotion to Christ had fueled impassioned purity as she had waited in faith for marriage. Lissie was ready now for her first kiss.

Eric and Lissie's Courtship: Growing...Together

Mrs. Beaver:

A Time to Weep and a Time to Laugh

Mrs. Beaver:

We woke to the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a much-talked about piece of legislation that prohibits Americans from adopting Russian children. After jumping through countless hoops and visiting our kiddos in September, we were oh-so very close to a court date. Yet our avenue for adding the "Fab Four" to our family is now roadblocked. As the realization sunk in this morning, our hearts hurt.

As we grieved our way through the first half of the day, we kept our eye on the clock. We needed to be at the airport at 2 p.m. As we announced in the post called "A Surprise", our daughter Lissie is being courted by Eric Moores. Eric and his sister, Kali, a dear friend of Lissie's were on their way for a visit.

We arrived at the airport a tad early and their flight was a full hour late.

As I paced the itsy-bitsy airport, a set of Bible verses kept occurring to me. What wound its way through my head and made its way into my heart was the famous passage from Ecclesiastes 3: "There is a time for everything...a time to weep and a time to laugh." (verses 1,4)

Usually when I read that passage I think of the opposites mentioned in the long list as happening at different times, perhaps one following the other. But right now, God has laid on our plate both a reason for sorrow and a reason for joy. Perhaps another metaphor works even better. The grief and the happiness are like two sides of a coin. I choose to see this dichotomy as a great kindness from a good God.

While we pray-pray-pray-pray that God will provide a way around or over or under the roadblock to adopting our kiddos, we can be focusing on life and laughter and love and living in a way that glorifies God despite our circumstances. Grief and gladness can co-exist.

So as God lifted my spirits, I was able to enjoy how beautiful my daughter looked as she waited for her guy. This was to be the first time they'd seen each other since they started courting seven weeks ago. When the courtship began, Lissie was living in Central Asia.

 

The two have been counting the days for this "together time" for weeks, but Lissie told me despite her excitement she was also a bit nervous.

 

 

Finally, the plane landed and the whole family lined up to support Lissie and cheer on the duo. We've all known Eric for nearly three years and he is a favorite with the whole tribe.

 

 

At last, Lissie caught sight of a tall, dark...well, you get the picture.

 

 

Eric was hurrying toward Lissie at a record-setting pace!

 

 

Eric and Lissie's hug took place too fast for me to catch with my camera. That brevity was purposeful on their part and it had been decided upon through ongoing discussions long before they reached each other's arms. Still in the initial stage of their courtship, they've chosen to wait on physical shows of affection until they have a better sense of whether God's will is for them to spend their lives together with nothing parting them but death.

 

So for now, Eric's embrace is for his sister. We're so glad both of them will be spending two weeks with us. They feel just like family and having them around increases the amount of laughter that rings through our home. Right now we could use some extra laughter, while we pray-pray-pray-pray that eventually our sorrow will be turned to joy and our mourning to dancing as we celebrate the addition of four kiddos to our number.

 

 

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Dinner for Three

Mrs. Beaver:

Last night Mr. Beaver and I took 16-year-old Daria to the nicest restaurant in town. It was just the three of us. Doing anything in a group that small is unusual in a family our size! Daria even got to shop for and don a brand new dress for the special occasion.

Why all the fuss?

Daria is the sixth of our teens to go through an important rite of passage in our family. We call it the Purity Promise Dinner. Our goal last night was to encourage Daria to commit to physical, emotional and spiritual purity in pursuit of Christ-like holiness while she waits to marry the right man at the right time according to God's plan for her life. We asked her to commit to sexual abstinence until marriage because we want God's very best for her and for her husband-to-be.

Mr. Beaver and I draw these convictions from the Bible. So after ordering our food last night, Mr. Beaver went over a number of scriptures with Daria showing her God's good plan for her life. He took her to Bible verses where the Lord articulates His insistence that His people save physical intimacy for the marriage bed. Daria's dad showed her that God wants more than mere physical purity. He wants purity of the mind and heart as well. The Lord wants young people to save all of themselves for their marriage partners.

Once Daria's dad had explained our plea for her to pursue purity, he asked her if she was willing to wait. Her response was an enthusiastic, "Yes!" She went on to tell us that while living in the orphanage in Russia and attending a community school, she'd had the opportunity to witness the devastation that not waiting can cause. She'd seen the brokenness that giving your heart and your body too soon can produce. She told us she wants something more like the love-filled magic she's seen between her sister, Anna, and her brother-in-law, Aaron.

We warned Daria that the promise she was making would be hard to keep. She'd be battling the world's ways and her own hormones. Daria's not naive, however. Living in an orphanage until she was nearly 16 opened her eyes to the very realities from which we've tried to shelter our other children. She knows life's hard edge, but now she also knows Christ. She wants to fight the good fight with His help. We promised we'd stand shoulder to shoulder with her, always ready to listen to her struggles. We promised we'd always be willing to pray with her. We promised we'd be available to counsel her and guide her. We promised her never-ending support and love.

Once Daria made her pledge to wait for the right man at the right time, as her dad likes to put it, he pulled out the visible reminder of her promise to walk the path of purity. He placed a ring on her left hand which will remain there until a man who has Mr. Beaver's approval replaces the band with an engagement ring.

Daria's hand and that of her daddy

Until Daria's forever man comes along, her dad will protect her and provide for her. He'll train her in the ways of God, and he'll intercede on her behalf in prayer before the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Then someday he'll stand at a wedding alter and pass those responsiblities to a young man who is prepared to be responsible for Daria for life.

 To God be the glory!

Courtship: News FLASH!

Aaron and Tessa have been courting for nearly a year. By their choice, they have always had a family member nearby each time they've been together to help them guard their purity. The reason for this is that they decided when their courtship began that they wanted their very first kiss to be the traditional kiss at the alter after they're declared husband and wife.

With the permission of Tessa's dad, Aaron asked Tessa to marry him while she was vacationing with his family in Hilton Head, South Carolina, in October. Now that they are engaged, their purity goal hasn't changed, but Mr. Beaver's confidence in Aaron's commitment to the goal has grown over the months. So tonight Aaron took Tessa on their very first date.

Here Aaron is ready to take Tessa to the finest restaurant in town....

...and while there he presented her with her engagement ring.

(The ring on her left hand in this picture is the purity ring

Tessa's father presented to her at about age 13

when she covenented with him to stay pure

 until they both agreed that the Lord had brought

 the right man at the right time into her life.

Tonight that ring was moved to her right hand.)

After dinner, the two of them returned home before going to see the new Narnia Movie...

...to show us the ring.

We all rejoiced with her. Her dream has come true!

And, of course, we're in full agreement that

the ring Aaron picked out for his beloved is beautiful!

Tessa brings such life to this family that it is hard to imagine her departing our home following their wedding. Even Daria and Alexander are showing some sadness this weekend over the impending "loss" of their brand new oldest sister.

However, all of us can clearly see that the Lord has matched Aaron and Tessa perfectly,

and we're prepared to release her in March to a wonderful future with a godly man.

May the Lord God be praised for the holy, powerful, loving, and precious works he has done in our family just in the past few weeks. He is such a good God!