Sometimes a story comes along that's so beautiful it has to be shared.
It's worth going out of your way to make sure people get to hear what God did.
That's what has happened in the past few weeks with the story of
Zi Ping and his forever family.
In January, we told you about how Jenn Watson, of the September 2011 Z Squad, left on the Race praying that God would use her to change someone's life. She had no idea that life would become part of her own family.
While working in China at an orphanage for children with special needs, Jenn fell in love with a little boy named Zi Ping. She felt like he would fit perfectly in her family, and she decided to take a risk and try to make it happen. Jenn asked her sister Katie and her brother-in-law Josh if they would be willing to adopt Zi. They immediately agreed, and they've dedicated the last year to bringing him home.
God opened every door throughout the complicated international adoption process, including providing more than $30,000 in one day to fund Zi's whole adoption. Finally, on January 16th, Josh and Katie boarded a plane to China to go get their son.
They spent two weeks filling out all the paperwork to make Zi officially their son.
Then they boarded the flight home where Zi's new family and friends eagerly waited to meet him.
Since we love great stories, we decided to send two of our storytellers up to New Jersey to meet Zi and his family and document their arrival. Along with the group from Z Squad who first met Zi in China, they drove up from Georgia.
The whole group gathered in Newark International Airport and waited for the moment a year in the making. There was lots of cheering, tears, and so much joy.
So why is this story so important? Why have so many of you read it, commented on it, and shared it?
Because this story speaks of God's heart. Adoption is the essence of the gospel. In the same way Josh and Katie spent a year chasing after Zi and went across the ocean to bring him home, God relentlessly pursues each of us. He wants to know us and be our father. He wants to bring us into his family like the Edwards did with Zi.
That's why we tell this story.
We will share more updates on Zi and his family as they settle in and adjust to life together, but for now, enjoy this short video of the moment a family began.
