That First Step

My life have been so immensely blessed by the adoption of my son Ben. I could write for days telling you how sweet, cute, precious, adorable, fun, cuddly, happy, and smart my little guy is but I am too busy gazing into his beautiful brown eyes to sacrifice the time that might take. So, instead I will write a simple update hoping you catch a glimpse of what a precious gift this little man is.

In the past few weeks I have done a lot of reflecting. For me, August marks the end of a season and the beginning of a new one so it’s sort of like my New Year. I work on a college campus and I direct a summer missions program that ends the last day of July. So when the summer mission ends I get a few weeks to recover before the students move in for the Fall semester. These few weeks are always very reflective for me.

It was in these weeks  in August last year that the decision to move forward with the adoption process was made.  After much prayer, the first piece of paperwork was filled out and the first phone call was made.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that at this point the next year I would be holding an incredibly handsome brown eyed boy that I am blessed to call my son. From the moment the first step to follow God in the call to adopt was taken He flung open the doors. He provided in some incredible ways and paved the path that led straight to Ben.

I had heard all kinds of stories about peoples’ adoption journeys and really had no idea what to expect. I thought the wait would be a year or longer, there would probably be a few paperwork problems, there could be a hard time raising the funds, etc. Those were my fears. The day I made the first phone call and started filling out that first piece of paperwork I decided to hand God all of those preconceived ideas and fears about this adoption process. I asked Him to help me trust Him with a child-like faith.

He answered that prayer a thousand times over. If you know me, even a little bit, you know that I am a planner, a details person, very analytical, and most often a worrier. For me to surrender something to Lord, seriously surrender, is very difficult. But God gave me strength through the Holy Spirit to trust through the whole process.

Once I surrendered and said yes things just started happening. The home study was completed in 2 months. I became a client of Faithful Adoption Consultants and presented to the first birth mother situation in November. In the matter of 3 months I was already hearing about babies that needed families. God also provided funding from the beginning. Because I had not planned to adopt as soon as I did, I didn’t have much saved up so we knew God would have to provide the rest and He did. Then 7 short months after that first phone call and piece of paperwork I was holding my son in the delivery room. Absolutely incredible.

Sometimes I still can’t believe it’s real. I look down at his absolutely precious smile and I melt. Is he really  mine? Did God really do all of that in 7 months?  As I was reflecting this last week I was holding Ben and playing peek-a-boo with him, overcome with thankfulness and joy I just started weeping. This was the first time Ben has seen that many tears come from my eyes since the delivery room. He looked at me with great concern on his precious little face and I kept saying, “Mommy loves you so much buddy. You are just a miracle. I can’t wait to explain it all to you one day.”

It’s hard to believe that one year ago this week I said yes to the call on my life to adopt. One year ago I was on the phone with my Faithful Adoption Consultant asking more questions than she has probably ever heard about adoption. One year ago I was dreaming of a precious baby that needed a family. And today, a year later, I am looking into the eyes of a 6^th month old, incredibly adorable, dream come true.