Home with Noah from China!

Noah is home!

We are home! We got back about a week and a half ago from our three weeks in China, and have had a wonderful time getting to know our new son, Noah!

We could tell the entire time we were in China that people were praying for us - it went amazingly well, and even though there were also hard times, God’s hand was so obvious through it all! Now, we are trying to get Noah established in our home and at his new school, and also working on getting answers for him about his heart.

I blogged our entire trip with pictures and would love for you to check that out! Also, looking back at the prayer requests I sent last time, I am totally amazed by the Lord - every single one of those prayers were answered, even the one about his oxygen level on the flight home! That day only, his oxygen level was 10 points higher than it had been before - God is so good!

I have a few events this month, but am taking some time to get Noah settled and figure out the timing of his heart surgery and other medical care. I’ll be back to speaking and singing full-time in the fall, and am also taking a few limited things this spring and summer, and would love to be with you! Let me know if we can minister together!

Again, we can’t thank you enough for the prayers, and we look forward to hearing from and praying for you too!

In Christ,

Jennifer

Contact us to schedule an event!

Noah’s Medical Update and Transition Home

This has been sort of a crazy re-entry into life for us. The jet-lag has been no joke, and it’s been surprisingly consuming just to have Noah in the house with us and also to have so many doctors appointments and paperwork with insurance and things. Not that we weren’t expecting it, but somehow it still took us by surprise. Add to that that our basement decided to flood a couple days after we got back into town (thank the Lord it didn’t happen while we were in China!) which was a complication we really didn’t need, and a week and a half went by like lightening!

The first night Noah and Toby went to bed and tried to whisper to each other which is tough with very limited English. We could hear, “Good night, Toby.” “Good night, Noah.” “Toby. Toby! Toby!” “Yes, Noah?” “Um… good night, Toby.” “Good night, Noah.” “Okay. Toby! Toby!” “Yes, Noah?” “Um, good night, Toby.” etc. That lasted about 5 minutes and then they both passed out.

In the morning when they woke up, Toby told me Noah said, “I miss Chinese mother.” And Toby said, “I’m sorry, Noah” and Noah looked thoughtful and said, “I miss Chinese mother. I like American mother,” as though he was saying “I miss my Chinese mom but I also like my American mom.” This is actually so positive in our opinion. Clearly, it’s very normal for him to miss his foster parents, but we are so glad that he also likes us, and we want him to know that it’s fine for him to love two sets of parents.

We’ve also spent many, many, many hours with doctors over the last week. Noah’s first appointment was cardiology…

About Jennifer Shaw

Jennifer Shaw is a Telly Award winning speaker, author, singer, songwriter and five-time Top 40 Billboard artist. Her ministry has been featured by Focus on the Family, Insight for Living, FamilyLife Today, Autism Speaks, Joni and Friends, and many more. Her new book, Life Not Typical: How Special Needs Parenting Changed My Faith and My Song, has brought national attention to the issue of Sensory Processing Disorder.

After being classically trained as an opera singer at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, Jennifer became a professor of music at Cedarville University before she felt led into her role as a contemporary worship leader. Her testimony includes tragedy and triumph, being both an adoptive parent and the parent of a special needs child, and losing her father to Lou Gehrig’s disease. With the release of her fourth album, Someday, her songs offer hope in any circumstance and also reflect her recent experiences on the mission field in Asia, Africa, Central America and the UK.