It probably feels like the last month has just been a string of ongoing goodbyes. We knew our turn was coming; we just tried to think about it and talk about it like it was still a far way off. But, now I’m sitting here trying to put some words together to give to you tonight. It’s our turn to say goodbye.

I’m seeing a pattern in my life lately. God supplies just I need before I even know I need it. I remember when we first met. We sat and talked about adoption and ministry while Lydia toddled around us. I thought God was using me to help give you some ideas and encourage you to step out and do whatever it was God was calling you to do.

It’s been years since that day. Since then, you’ve become family. You have filled gaps we felt and those we didn’t even know were there. You have taken things off our plates so that God could put other things on them. You have cared about our kids as people, uniquely made who God will use right now and as they grow. And, you have cared for us, giving us ideas and encouraging us to step out and do what it was God called us to do.

It’s your turn now to step out in faith. It’s your turn to go into the unknown and walk a path you’ve never been down before. And, as you do, we’re prepared to put aside the sad we feel at the gaps that you’re leaving here and be your biggest cheerleaders. There is no doubt in our minds that God has called you to this new adventure at this exact time. But, if you ever doubt it, we’re prepared to remind you. If you’re finished unpacking boxes and it doesn’t feel like home, call us and we can tell you all the funny things Lydia said that day and what Drew made last out of Legos. We’ll tell you what we’re reading and what we’re learning and tell you what is currently stressing us out. You’ll feel right at home again.

I got these pictures in my email inbox this week. They came to me and were addressed to me, but I think they were meant for you. That photography workshop we did with those children at the orphanage last fall? You ran with that, and the two of you shined so bright there. Your hearts were obviously so full and overflowing. I knew I had been a part of something incredible when I tried to hold my phone still through tears to capture on video when you gave each child the certificates and 4×6 copies of the beauty they created. You served hard there and then came home, holding those images like batons and doing your best to pass them on and keep the significance of that week going now on the side of the world where we live. And, you did that well. But, this week, when these images arrived with some simple, broken English words, I knew that God has used your efforts in such bigger ways.

Seeing how the children had responded to your workshop, the staff at the orphanage created a photography classroom where they have had local, professional photographers come to work with the kids. You started something. God used your gifts and your hearts and He brought you to that place at just the right time and God used you to start something. We thought the workshop was incredible—but this is incredibler.

I didn’t want to just email the pictures to you. We decided to print them for you so that you could put them on your new frig or tape them up to your new wall and be reminded that no matter where you are, God is using you. He’s working in and through you in the place where He has you right then and there, and He’s using you in places where you aren’t any longer. That’s the sovereign power of our God.

Life will go on here. Church will keep meeting and growing. The girls will keep sipping coffees in the wee early morning hours every Wednesday. The kids will keep growing. Mark and I will keep looking for how He wants us to be serving. It might be hard for you to know that things are continuing without you. I want to tell you right now that the gap you are leaving is a Leaman-shaped gap, and we’re fully anticipating you coming back and wiggling right back into that spot. But, I also want to tell you that the impact you have on our lives and all the lives of those people God has put in front of you is not ceasing as you leave this place. He is going to continue to multiply how you have faithfully served us and others and ultimately Him, just like He multiplied how you served those children in China. And, when He gives us glimpses of it, we’ll be sure to tell you. That’s what cheerleaders do. And, maybe He’ll somehow use those moments to do what I wanted to do in the beginning, to encourage you to press on and continue to do whatever it is God is calling you to do.

May He bless you abundantly and fill every gap in your lives, even the ones you don’t know you have, as you start on this new adventure, trusting Him to go with you with every step.

Dear friend,
We know what today is. Your baby would have celebrated her first birthday today. We can’t know how you feel today and for the last month leading up to today since the Lord took her home. We can’t know how you will feel moving forward from today and everyday after. We can’t relate on that level. Our vain attempts to imagine being your position fall so obviously short. Even still, though we do not know the loss you know, we know the God you know.

He is present, never distant.
He is active, never still.
His vision is way bigger than the small glimpses we are able to see.
He is the only author of peace.
He loves you.
He loves your marriage.
He loves your family.
You are His.
He is good–but not only good–He is good in you, for you, and to you.

In those times when you may find yourselves looking at each other and unable to even speak, unable to put words to your hearts, may the Holy Spirit who is in you preach those truths and others to you. May they take solid root in your hearts, and may they fill you even in the depths of your being that seem unfillable.

We are trusting in the God we know to provide healing to all of you in a way that only He can. It may look very different that you may expect or even want right now, but we trust that He will build you up in time as you press on and that in so doing, you will see Him in ways others never will.

We have not forgotten your sweet daughter on her birthday today. We have not forgotten you. But, more importantly, He has not forgotten you and will not for a single moment. We pray that the impact of Avery’s life would go on and on and that you’d experience those blessings personally and see glimpses of ongoing blessings of her life to others all of your days.