Twelve Years Ago Today...

 12 years ago today...

 a sweet, amazing young lady did a very brave thing...she chose to let go of the tiny little baby girl God has given her. This baby girl she had nourished, looked after, and protected inside of her for nine months...The baby girl she had struggled to give birth to (for a good 19 hours!) The baby girl she had snuggled with, slept with, breastfed, and watched over for the first 2 weeks of her life... This God-fearing, creative, nurturing soul took that baby girl and placed her into my arms, and asked me to be her momma...
12 years ago today!

On that day...12 years ago, Jeff and I were at a christening for our niece. She was 3 months old, and our hearts were breaking. You see, we had been told, 2 weeks earlier, that the baby girl we thought might be coming home, was going home with her birth mama. We were heart broken...and the last thing we wanted to do was go to a christening for the first baby girl in our family!

But we went, and shared that special time with our family. We were so at peace, we knew that our little niece was such a wonderful gift to us all. We left that evening, went home and settled down in our jammies...ready to snuggle up and relax after such a hard day.

The phone rang. We knew it was our social worker from the agency. She had planned to call us that night, just to check in with us both and see how we were doing after going through a "change of heart." Jeff answered the phone in the kitchen. I grabbed the extension in the bedroom. We met each other in the hall as she started to talk.

"Well," she said, "I am glad you are both there. I need you to get in the car and drive down here. You need to come right away. Do not stop for anything, we have everything you need. Your baby girl is waiting for you to take her home!"

Jeff looked at me, tears in his eyes. His dream of a baby girl had just come true.

"Well," he said, "Could we put our clothes on first?"

The baby girl we thought we had lost was placed into my arms that night. She looked right at me, as though she knew she was right where she belonged. Her birth mama tells me when she saw the look on Mac's face; she knew she had made the right decision. She knew that Mac belonged with us.

So today we praise God for Mac's birth mama, and the amazing gift she brought into our life 12 years ago. We praise Him for the courage she has and the complete, unconditional love she gives to Mac, our other daughters and to us. What a privilege, what an honor to know her. And I pray everyday; I might be as courageous and loving as she.

Just a note:  This is a re post from a few years ago.  Mac's birth mom is still very much a loving amazing example to us all.  We adore her and thank God for her everyday.  Mac is so very much like her birth mother, and we praise God for the striking resemblance, both physically, and spiritually. They love the same things, experience life in the same ways, and even use the same words!  Knowing Mac''s birth mama has helped us understand who Mac is!  What a glorious gift adoption is!  People say how blessed Mac is to be a part of our family, but we believe we are abundantly blessed to have her for a daughter, and her birth family as a part of our family!

12 years ago we began a glorious journey with the arrival of our Mac!  God has since added three more to the mix!  What a blessing and privilege to have our little ones with us!  We praise the Lord every day for them!