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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and far
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said something
Read more

Thin Spaces...The Sights and Sounds of Ethiopia

Image
When I was in Seminary, I went on my first Mission Trip to a third world country. I was just two years into my marriage, a young 23 years of age, and I had no idea how the experience would change me. My Dad happened to be taking a team from his church to the Dominican Republic and I needed a cross cultural experience for a class I was taking, so it seemed like a perfect match. That trip not only changed my life, but created this passion to serve in third world countries and was the launching pad for all the mission trips I would get to lead at the churches I was a youth pastor at. By the time I was I reached 40, I had taken 2 more trips to the Dominican Republic, a trip to Costa Rica, a trip to Guatemala, a trip to Africa, and of course 25+ trips to Honduras.  There is something about being in a third world country that feels like home to me. I know that sounds strange, but I have often found myself saying, “I’m my best self here.” They are places that breathe fresh life into me,
Read more