Referral-Aversary...


Happy One Year and One Day Referral-Aversary!!!  Let's just be honest, this post should have been written yesterday, but life is a little crazy these days.  Even as I write tonight, I am still in awe that a year ago (yesterday), I was in Florida with my Mom on vacation, when I received a call that would change the course of my life.  Nate called me, asked me if I was sitting down, and then the next several moments became a blur, because what we had been waiting for so long for had finally happened.  We had been matched with the cutest baby boy this world has ever seen (and yes, I am biased).  I remember trying to calm my mom down, who was beyond screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to keep myself from shaking so that I could bring up my email with the picture of the little guy that we would one day call our son, and continuing to pinch myself to make sure it was all real...all at the same time.  When I pulled up that picture, I immediately fell in love with a little boy on the other side of the world, and screamed at the top of my lungs, "I'm going to be a mom!!!!"

Sometimes we have to take a long journey to be able to see the incredible beauty that God has for us.  As I sat at the mall tonight, watching Biruk play on the indoor play place with other kids (ok, lets be honest again...I wasn't just watching...I was that mom worrying he was going to fall off, worrying his drool was going to get all over the kid on the slide with him, and worrying he was going to break something), I couldn't help but smile.   A year ago, all we had was a picture.  A year ago, all we had was a name.  A year ago, when we received that call, we knew that we still had a long ways left on the journey.  A year ago, we had no idea how one phone call, one picture, and one journey would totally change us.

I journaled later that  night, after calming myself down...and my mom...which was much more difficult by the way...I wrote these words in my journal, "I still cannot believe it!  It is crazy.  We've been waiting for a ridiculous amount of time for this and it is here...my heart is hugely overflowing with joy."  When I think about all of that time we waited, all of the time we questioned, the times when doubt crept in, the times when we felt incredibly broken, and the times we wondered if the journey we found ourselves on was going to be worth it, I can't help but be thankful.  I am thankful for the friends who continued to encourage us.  I am thankful for the notes that were written, the prayers that were poured out over us, the people who just let us vent.  I am thankful for a family who didn't give up hope, but instead believed with everything inside of them that one day we would welcome a little Ethiopian into our family.  But most of all...most of all...I find myself thankful for the God who chose to take us on this journey with him, who has continued to surprise us along the way, and who continues to overflow our hearts with joy.  That kind of joy...won't ever be able to be contained.  Thanks be to God.

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