I was catching up on facebook and a post from my friend Julie Meyaard caught my eye. Julie is a friend from my church back in Michigan and she has 6 amazing biological children and 1 amazing adopted daughter from Ethiopia. I remember a conversation we had once, when volunteering in the church nursery, about her adoption ( before I ever knew God was going to call our family to Lesotho to be very involved in adoptions ourselves ). Seeing the joy on her face and the love in her eyes, I knew adoption was as much a gift to her family as it was a gift to this sweet young girl from Ethiopia. While God has not called us specifically to adopt and add to our family at this point, He has given us a heart for adoption and a great love of bringing families together. For the next 4 years, Bryan and I will be witnessing God's beautiful plan for many families who are waiting to bring a special child/children into their family. So these are the words of my friend...
As I watched another adoption video today with tears streaming down my cheeks I wondered how it appeared to those who had not walked the journey of adoption in their own lives. Does it look fake...the matching adoption tshirts, the picture of a multi-cultural family with big smiles at the airport? Let me assure you there is a ton of PAIN in it all....the beautiful piece is what God does through adoption. He takes the broken hearted and heals their hurt. This is not to say that parenting a hurting child will ever be easy but the blessings far outweigh tears. The freedom of letting go of what you thought(or maybe others think) your family should look like and filling it with the children that God chose for you is overwhelming beautiful.
Adoption is an act of love, and I can tell you that these children are worth it. I know the children at Beautiful Gate so well and I see their faces each day and just wish for them to be with their new family. I used to be a little afraid of adoption because I feared the unknown, but now I see the kids each day and think how ridiculous my fear was. They are kids... they are JUST LIKE MY KIDS! They cry when they hurt, they laugh when something is funny, they love to be held and tickled, they want to be hugged and kissed, they love to run and play, they like to learn new things, they test boundaries, and most of all they want to be loved and know that they matter to someone. The only difference between them and my kids is that my kids have parents and the kids here are wishing they did. May God show each of us His plan for our families and may we be fully open to His perfect plan!
Anita
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