God's Grace and Strength

I want to tell a story only God could write:

In February we were matched with a birthmom in Fargo. She was due in May and wanted an open adoption. We grew in our relationship with her and were thrilled on May 15 to hear that our sweet baby girl was born. On May 18 we brought L home! She was a bundle of preciousness! In Minnesota there is a look-back period of ten business days. We were pretty certain that our birthmom was going to follow through due to the circumstances in her past and her living conditions. We were greatly saddened on June 3 when we got the call that she decided to parent. Never had we imagined having to give our baby back. We were left with only two choices: run for the border or trust God would watch over our baby even if we could not. We left our baby in the arms of another woman, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

The next couple months we spent pondering and praying about what the Lord was doing. We were grieving. We were not sure where to go or how to go about it. L would always be our daughter. How were we to move on from her loss? Over time God gave us peace in Himself, peace in the cross, peace that He alone can move in a life in far greater ways than we could. We came to a point where we were satisfied with His plan, trusting in what we could not see, knowing that we already had two amazing children. One thing God kept reminding us was that adoption was part of our calling as a family, whether that be now or later was up to Him.

On Saturday August 4, we got a call from our adoption agency that a baby born had been born in Toledo, Ohio on July 30. His birthmom's rights had been terminated, his birthfather was unknown, and he was still in the hospital nursery waiting for his Mommy and Daddy. Immediately we knew that our son was soon to come home! We left for Toledo the following Monday morning to hold J for the first time. His name means "praising the name of God" and that was exactly what we were doing!! Our ICPC paperwork was finished in four days (!), and we were able to bring him home, all 7 pounds of him, the following Thursday.

However, this God written story is not over.

On Sunday August 12, we received a call that our original birthmom no longer wanted to parent. Due to our previous experience, we were advised to wait until the second look back period was over on Wednesday August 29th. In the mean time, L would be living with a wonderful agency foster family. Our hearts overflow with joy and excitement last night was we drove to pick up our sweet L to bring her home for good!!

God is faithful. He was faithful to us when we lost L. He was faithful to her while she was away from us. He was faithful to watch over J. And He is faithful now as He is bringing us back together as a family of six! It is hard for me to believe that not that long ago I was a mother of two. Now, regardless of sleepless nights and complete craziness, I am praising God that He is giving me the gift of being a mother of four!

I have never understood the parable of the lost son with such clarity—never before had I lost something so precious. But I now have a glimpse into what it means to “gird your loins and run” into the presence of that which was lost but has now been FOUND! I can only imagine that Jesus must feel the same way when we lost sinners are found by our Father! It is as if I can hear the “WHOO HOOs” of Heaven. I certainly have said my fair share of “WHOO HOO!”