What a weekend

My heart is so full after this past weekend.

On Friday and Saturday our sweet friends had a yard sale for us. Many families donated items to sell and even more worked at the sale. We were not even there on Friday because we had a seminar at our agency. We were so humbled by the love we experienced this weekend. And so in awe of God's hand in all of it. There were many opportunities to share the gospel. After all why would people who already have 4 children, want to adopt more? The only answer is the Gospel. :) We also heard adoption stories and were able to bless others with items not sold. It was an incredible display of God's love.

We have been somewhat hesitant in our openness towards the idea of a birth mom. Almost weekly, we hear stories about domestic adoption and how the parents came back and disrupted the family. Naturally, this has produced some fear.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18

The seminar that we attended this weekend at our agency included testimonies from a birth mom and an adoptive family. It was really precious to hear the stories of these families and what they have gone through. The adoptive family was very similar to ours. They had two young boys and had adopted a baby girl. There's is an interracial adoption which brought up some of the same things that we will experience.

But it was the birth mom's courage that really moved us. She was not a teenager. She was not on drugs. She was not uncaring. She was not "taking the easy way out." She was not uneducated. She is not on a mission to disrupt the adoptive parent's lives. She was not "giving her baby up." She loves her baby deeply. She has a son with special needs. She had a relationship that she thought would last and it didn't. She has family and a church who would've stepped in to help her if she had decided to parent. She made a very informed decision and it was the hardest one she's ever had to make. She had people that tried to talk her out of it. She lost friends as a result of her loving decision. Most inportantly, she saw God's love through her journey.

Every year, over half of the unplanned pregnancies in the US result in abortion. The current estimate is about 1.3 MILLION abortions in the United States every year.

Adoption is trauma. It's not easy. It's not all wrapped up in a pretty little box. The further we dive into the depths of this journey, the more we see that. And the more we see God's love shining through.