Eight years ago today, on
the other side of the world, a woman who had sacrificed so much for nine
months, was in a hospital giving birth to a baby boy. She knew that she couldn’t
raise him. She knew that he belonged somewhere else. She knew that God had
big plans for him.
Meanwhile, back on this
side of the world, a young couple was beginning to realize that having a child
the natural way wasn’t going to happen for them. They had tried all the ways
that man has to offer but God had big plans for them.
That little boy was in the
hospital for 15 days before going to his temporary home where he would wait for
his mom and dad to come get him. Every day he was held and rocked and loved by
the wonderful women at the orphanage. He grew bigger and stronger in that love.
But still he knew that God had big plans for him.
Fast forward almost two
years and you will see a little boy that was waiting patiently for his mom and
dad while they were working tirelessly to get to him. Until one day, Marcy 21,
2006, the phone rang…
“Hello,” his mother said.
“Kirsten? Are you okay” the
voice said.
“Yes – I’m just trying to
figure out why you’re calling me on a Friday afternoon.” (You see the voice was
the adoption coordinator. They had a standing appointment for Monday afternoons
but this was a Friday, highly unusual.)
“Well, I may have a baby
for you,” she said.
The rest of the story is
history, as they say. For the next two months, the little boy’s mother and
father worked even more tirelessly getting ready to fly to the other side of
the world to claim that boy as their own.
I have always heard that
the first time you see your baby, you are instantly in love. I worried if I,
too, would feel that instant connection. After all, this child grew under
another woman’s heart for nine months and was loved by caretakers for 2 years. Would
he reject me? Would our battle to have a child of our own come to an end or
keep going?
Well, I’m here to tell you
that the moment I saw that little boy in person, I was instantly in love! He
was a little unsure at first but he came to understand that we were his family
that he had been waiting for. Those two years before he came into my life were
just the catalyst that God used to get us ready for family life.
And so today, I wanted to
take time to honor that young woman that sacrificed so much to have a healthy
baby. She had to hide her pregnancy because she was unmarried and would have
been killed (beheaded) if her secret was found out. Instead of getting rid of
that baby, she snuck into Kazakhstan where she knew she would be safe and so
would her baby. When I think of her, I always say a prayer of thanks to God but
I also offer up a prayer for her. I hope she knows that her little boy is well,
happy, loved, and smart.
Even though this is a day
to celebrate Bobby’s birthday we know how much bigger it is that we have him. So,
thank you to that young woman that we will probably never meet. May your life
be filled with blessings every day as ours is because of your gift. Thank you
God for Your grace and love that allows me to be that little boy’s mother. Thank
you God for giving him a wonderful father that was willing to go the “extra
mile” to get him. Every day I have with that little boy is a blessing and he
continually reminds me of Your unending love.
