In the midst of difficult times, still God shines His face upon us and gives us reminders of His loving presence. One of the ways He does that is through the gift of children. When we look at our children we are reminded that there is hope, that there is a future, and that we have a role and a responsibility to continue to live faithfully, so that our children will learn to live faithfully.

With that in mind Joyce and I praise our great God for our second grandson, Isaac William Adkison, who was born on Oct. 27^th. We feel so unworthy, yet so blessed, and we wonder how and why God would give us such a great gift. It has been such a joy and help to share this with you! You have encouraged us through all the ups and downs that our family has experienced over these last several years. You have felt our pain as our daughter Amy and her husband Brian went through infertility treatments and began the adoption process. You have shared our excitement and joy as we learned that they would have to delay their plans to adopt because they would have a child the natural way! You shared our surprise and joy at the great news that our younger daughter would have a grandson for us as well, within a month after her sister, and now Isaac is here! We have talked about babies and names (from “Bram” to “Blank”), and have shared the joy of the births of these boys. And you share our prayers for our grandsons and for all our children that they grow up with faith and love.

During those times when we wondered what God’s will was, when we were searching for His presence, our daughter Amy introduced us to “Something Heavenly,” a great song of faith from the contemporary Christian group Sanctus Real, which became a theme song of hers, and of ours as well. Here’s a bit of that song, with a prayer of thanks for all of you, that God would richly bless you for the blessing you are to us, and that we would all give in to something heavenly. Father, your great might and power are matched only by your boundless love.

There’s a wave that’s crashing over me, and all I can do is surrender. Whatever you’re doing inside of me, it feels like chaos but somehow there’s peace. It’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see. But I’m giving in to something heavenly.