Friday, March 14, 2008

Thankful Friday

I didn’t get this posted yesterday but there are no rules about what time Thankful Thursday has to be posted. Good news is that the delay is adoption related. Lots and lots of paperwork to take care of now that we have received our acceptance letter.

I am thankful that God choose to make me a mother through adoption. He could have just as easily have allowed me to give birth to a child. One miracle was no greater than the other. He hand picked me to be Gracie and Laurie Alice’s Mama. There are so many reasons that I’ve been blessed by adoption one of the greatest being the wonderful friendships I have made during the process to adopt Gracie and now to adopt Laurie Alice. Rusty and I are so fortunate to have a special relationship with both of the families we traveled with in 2003. We are extremely fortunate that Dave and VJ live right here in SC and their daughter Jada was Gracie’s crib mate. That is such a special bond and it is utterly amazing that those two get to continue their relationship after their adoption. David and Julie and their daughters Emily, adopted with Gracie and Jada, and their youngest Anna live in Ohio. We sure wish they lived closer BUT we have been meeting for reunion trips every year. There is a bond that ties us together by our girls. We have different lives, raise our children a little differently, have different interest but our girls bring us together and have forged a friendship that will last a long time. I have no doubt that we will be attending College graduations together , traveling to Ohio for weddings and I can even foresee trips together long after our girls have moved on with their lives. We will sit with silver hair and pop the video’s in and watch just one more time the story that changed our lives forever. We will reminisce about how we met David and Julie for the first time in the Chicago airport and how after receiving Emily they fed her French fries one night until they made her sick. We will laugh one more time about the total disarray Dave and VJ’s room was in, luggage and food stuffed down in the crib placed in their hotel; and of course there will always be the encounter Rusty had with the little girl selling souvenirs at the Forbidden City. I love these two families with all my heart and I am so blessed to have them all in my life.

I am thankful for the friends I have made during the process of adopting Laurie Alice. God has opened so many doors and allowed me the opportunity to meet such wonderful and caring people. When we first started talking about adopting a child with special needs I was apprehensive. I prayed that I would meet people that would give me confirmation in my spirit that this was His will for our lives. Some of these wonderful people I’ve only met once or twice or maybe only had a brief conversation but they were not chance meetings but I believe they were God ordained encounters. I’m thankful for Beth who answered my questions over and over and over again about her experiences having adopted two little girls who are cleft affected. I’m so thankful for my wonderful friend Sharon (she designed my blog). You know she and I have NEVER met face to face and I have actually only spoken on the phone to her one time but we email and I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. She’s doing this fundraiser for me which I find extremely touching. She also has two little ones who are also cleft affected and I know God has put her in my life to help me in the very near future as Laurie Alice will have to undergo surgeries. I know I’ll be able to talk to her and she will understand what I’m going through. I’ve recently met Gina who will be traveling just a few months after us to bring home their son who is the same age and from the same orphanage as Laurie Alice. We’ve only met for lunch once but we immediately clicked and I know that our families will get to know one another even more.

I have no idea who will be in our travel group but I’m excited about the prospects. Who else will God put in our lives? He is such a good God and He notices every detail of our lives and he brings people along beside us to experience and go through things together.

I am thankful for these friendships. I have many, many more friends and as time goes on I will talk about many of them and what they have meant in my life. So for this Thankful Thursday I encourage you to think about the friendships in your life whether you have 1 friend or 100. Be thankful that they have been placed there!

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