Life Unexpected

This morning as I opened my eyes to a brand new day, my mind was filled with the lyrics to a song that has somewhat remained etched in my heart these past few weeks.  It's a song by one of my favorite bands, Audio Adrenaline, called "Kings and Queens."  My Dad had heard it on the radio awhile back and asked if I had heard it.  At that time, I hadn't.  Several weeks later, I can't get the song out of my head...and I am not sure that I ever want it out of my head.  It has not only served as a reminder of what we are called to do as God's people, but it has hit home in a way that I would have never imagined, as Nate and I prepare our hearts for the first time we will meet little Baby B in Ethiopia.  Part of the lyrics say this: Little hands, shoeless feet, lonely eyes looking back at me Will we leave behind the innocent too brief On their own, on the run when their lives have only begun These could be our daughters and our sons And just like a drum I can h

It's only been one month since we got our referral call and I am going crazy waiting.  When we accepted our referral, our social worker was sure to tell us, "Now comes the hard waiting."  My immediate response was, "Oh, we are pros at waiting now!  This will be nothing."  I was so wrong.  Ever since we got the call, I wake up every night between 3am and 4am.  I find myself wondering what Baby B is doing, who is holding him, whether he is sleeping through the night, what it is like in Ethiopia, whether he feels safe and loved, and whether at his little young age he wonders if someone is coming for him.  I have also found myself wondering about his birth mom, wondering about the grief that she has probably experienced in giving up a child, and wondering if she is up in the middle of the night thinking about some of the very same things.  Waiting never seems to get easier and as far as living in the land of the unknown...we have taken on a whole new territory.

There have been so many days the past several years of my life that I have found myself crying out to God, "What in the world our are you doing with our life?"  Dealing with infertility, as well as the adoption process, have probably been...no, they have been...the hardest times of my life.  As I posted earlier, I am still overwhelmed by God's goodness every time I think that we are finally in the chapter of our life that we have been waiting for, for what seems like forever. As I type these words this morning, I am not just grateful that we have the most precious baby boy waiting for us in Ethiopia after a long journey.  I am grateful because God has chosen to take all the broken pieces of our hearts, all the painful days of our journey, all the days of questioning, all the loneliness, hurt and pain, and he has turned it into something amazingly beautiful. I know that there are so many people in the world who are struggling with "waiting" for something.  So

I am not sure that I realized how fast you could fall in love with someone you haven't even met...until I laid eyes on my son (oh my word...still so crazy to say "son!").  The past several days of our life have been the best celebration days I think we have ever experienced.  Nate and I can't talk about our little one without grinning, literally, ear to ear.  Every morning I wake up, I can see his little brown eyes and his huge smile, and I think to myself, "We may be the most blessed people in the world!"  To make this whole thing even sweeter, the WORLD is celebrating with us.  Our Facebook has been blown up, people have texted, called, hugged us, cried with us, rejoiced with us, and it has seriously been everything we could have asked for. This past weekend was amazing.  Friday morning, we spent some time talking with a Dr. from Hopkins who reviewed Little B's medical records.  She couldn't believe how healthy he was, other than the fact that

I can't even believe that I am finally writing this post!  I have been imagining this day for the past 3 years of my life and it has finally arrived.  WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!  I have been thinking about how I would post this news and to be honest, while I feel like I normally do a good job expressing myself through writing, I feel like words can't do justice to all that we have experienced these past few days.  In so many ways I am completely speechless and blown away by God's goodness that I am just not sure my writing will articulate just how happy I really am!!!  Nevertheless, I will start at the beginning and try my best to give all the details. Several years ago, when I was struggling with the pains of infertility, my Mom decided to take me to Florida for a special "mom-daughter" get away.  After that first trip, she committed to taking me every year until I got kids.  Last week was that week, and as usual, we headed to Florida.  Tuesday, we had pretty