It's been well over a year since I sat down to type out my thoughts here on the blog. It's been a year of lots of change in our family. It's been a journey for sure. Today marks a special day for us so I thought it most fitting that I take this opportunity to "pick up the pen (or the keyboard)" and start back at it. I've missed it, but I've been WAY TOO BUSY to think about it honestly. Several times it's been a passing thought that I should blog maybe even post some pictures but then I was too busy actually living the life God has blessed me with to journal it or blog it. But, I'm going to try to be a little more consistent with this because honestly, it's therapy for me. It's a way to get so much stuff out of my brain and heart and onto the page.
A year ago today we were a family of four on the adoption journey.
We'd been waiting and waiting and waiting some more. We had wondered more than once if "the call" would ever come and we'd thought more than once that maybe at some point we'd decide that it was time to give up. We'd started the journey shortly after Anna Claire was 2 and she'd just turned 7. Five years of waiting had trickled by. We'd completed more paperwork than we could have ever imagined. We'd read more about adoption than we could have dreamed possible. We'd met all sorts of people who shared the journey. We'd hoped and prayed and listened some more. We'd started the journey in the international program with our adoption agency (Bethany Christian). We'd soon realized that God was taking us down a different path. We'd switched to domestic and thought maybe that would mean a 6 month, or 9 month, or even just a year wait, and we had already surpassed that. BUT, we had resolved that God is the GOD OF TIMING not just TIME. We had prayed again and again for a birth mother and father and a baby that was in a situation about which we didn't know all the details. We had prayed that somehow in some way we would get to speak grace and mercy and LOVE. We had prayed that God would be present and real and in every detail. We had continued to wait and wait with small glimmers of hope now and again but nothing of real substance UNTIL!
On November 20th, we had received a call about a baby boy who had been born in Nashville. We were asked if we'd be willing to have our family profile shown. Our caseworker shared a little information (very little) with us. I called Jason. I called my cousin who was always my go to person about medical questions. I called Jason again. I called our caseworker back. YES! We were willing. Show our family profile. She'd let us know either way once a decision was made. A week went by. No news. I called our caseworker just to check and she said she didn't know anything and would let us know as soon as she did. I had peace. Nothing really strong either direction. I just remember telling Jason. "Who knows? Maybe the mom has decided to parent. Or maybe we'll get a call in a few months."
Fast forward. DECEMBER 18, 2012. 8:30 in the evening. We're at Jason's workplace preparing for a breakfast for his co-workers the next morning. His cellphone rings and it's our caseworker. Very strange because she almost always called my cellphone. Immediately my heart knew something was up. It didn't immediately register that it was about the call from a month ago. She talked with us casually and then asked, "So, what are your plans for Christmas?" "How would you feel about having a baby for Christmas?" I think we were all ready to erupt!!!!! Anna Claire fell to her knees and started saying, "Thank you, Jesus." In that moment, it was worth every moment of waiting that the 5 years had held for us. Our caseworker started rattling off all the details. I was writing frantically. She explained this was the same little guy from a month ago. She told us the details of his story and why it had been a month since the original call. This was Tuesday, December 18th. We would go to Nashville on Thursday December 20th to meet the birth family and on Friday, December 21, he would come home to us, HIS FOREVER FAMILY!!! Those were crazy, busy days. FRANTIC at the best. We had to buy a car seat, Get the bassinet out of the attic. My brother and sister-in-law brought over tubs and tubs of clothes (thank goodness otherwise he would've been wearing some pink sleepers). We had to buy diapers and wipes and a diaper bag and . . . WOW! I bet we looked and acted like crazy people. But, oh what precious memories. Those moments were amazing. God was so faithful. Meeting the birth family and hearing his story. Naming our baby boy and seeing him for the first time. Hearing his interim family tell about his first five weeks and knowing they had loved him deeply. God was so faithful. We know beyond any doubt that just as God's word promises, He had known our little guy in the secret place. He had knit him together. He had protected him in his mother's womb. He had watched him breathe his first and had soothed him and had sent him a family to care for him until we could.
Today marks the one year anniversary of our call. What a year it's been!
He has been pure joy to our family. He adores his big sisters and they think he's absolutely the best.
We look at him and absolutely can't imagine life without him. We see in him what it means that our Father chooses us, makes us His own, calls us His children. We cherish him beyond what is humanly explainable and we are overwhelmed by the gift it is to be his parents. We are so thankful for his birth mom and dad. Every time we communicate with his birth family I am in awe of how God has answered our prayers that we would get to see Him at work in every detail. I am thankful that we get to share grace and mercy and love and that we get to walk this journey. I am thankful that God has plans that are BIGGER than us.
Merry Christmas from our family of FIVE!!!!
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