A Grateful Mama...

Last year at this time, I only had a picture of the one who would change my life forever.  Last year at this time, I had no idea what it would be like to be a mother.  Last year at this time, I had no idea the deep, indescribable love that you could have for a child.  Last year at this time, I had no idea the amount of joy that could continue to spill out of the depths of you soul all because your child says the word, "mama."  Mother's Day has been a long time in coming for me, and I can say today, it was totally worth the wait.  I woke up this morning to find a balloon and a sign on Biruk's door that simply read, "Dear Mom."  A I opened up the door, there stood the sweetest sight in the world, my son (I still cannot believe I get to call him that), with this big toothy grin on his face.  Behind him were foam board signs that read, "I love you," "I love when you sing to me," and "Happy Mother's Day."  I completely lost it and realized it was going to have to be a glasses and no eye liner kind of day!

The day was simple, yet special.  Nate did everything he could to make sure that I felt loved, appreciated, and that I would remember my first Mother's Day forever.  We went to Sam's Club (yes...that was my first request...I am a sucker for samples!), took a long nap, hung out with my Mother-in-Law who is amazing, sat by the little blow up pool watching Biruk play for hours, hung out with the sweetest friends, made special deliveries for people who I love who I knew needed special love on this particular day, had an amazing dinner, ate far too many sweets, went for a run (to feel less guilty about the sweets), sang, prayed for and tucked my little boy into bed, and celebrated the fact that this year has been one of the biggest displays of God's faithfulness to date in our life.  It has been an incredible day.

Nate created this video for me for Mother's Day that made me an emotional mess this morning.  While it was meant to be a video from Biruk to me, it ultimately reflects our family's heart when it comes to our gratitude with God's grace in our story.  God has done so much in our lives and today is just one day to celebrate that truth.  And for that...this Mama is grateful.





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

The Hands That Hold Your Heart...

Image
I have somewhat been dreading writing this blog entry for the past week.   The more I have thought about it, the more I have realized that my words probably won’t do a great job conveying my heart.   For the past several weeks, I not only thought about our little Baby B half way around the world, aching and longing to hold him, but my heart has been heavy for his birth mom.   While Wednesday marked the 3 year anniversary of our adoption journey (we signed our very first adoption paperwork May 8, 2010), just two days later marked a day in which Baby B’s mother signed papers to give consent to our adoption. Yesterday was a huge step in our journey.   We now wait to be assigned a court date to travel to Ethiopia, which our social workers says could happen any day.   Technically, tomorrow will be my official Mother’s Day as an “expectant” Mom.   While I have felt “expectant” the past three years of this journey, having an actual face and name makes it so much more real.   Tomorrow
Read more