redemption

i have been so moved and inspired by the adoption stories i have read lately from my friends, so i want to spread that love here...

brian and suzanne are in the process of adopting a baby from rwanda.

molly and blake have three beautiful children who they have adopted, and molly's sister is an attorney working hard to change some oklahoma laws on adoption. i am learning a lot from these sweet friends and their experiences.

i love these stories.

and the bevins family...i have never met them, but we are connected by so many friends in common (and our OB, dr babb!). what they are walking through right now reminds me that God is big, bigger than we understand.

sometimes joyous experiences, sometimes heartbreaking...God is sovereign.

living in russia, where there are so many children who need to be adopted into a loving family, i have gotten the opportunity to witness many parents on the plane and in the airports who are just meeting the newest additions to their family for the first time! it is so amazing to see!

in december of 2006, tim and i got the opportunity to go home to tulsa for christmas...and on the trans-atlantic flight, i was sitting next to a man and his 20 month old son who had he had just met for the first time. they had a great story...this man and his wife had tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant for years and finally their doctor told them they couldn't get pregnant. so they decided to start the adoption process, and chose to adopt a child from russia. as the process was nearing completion and they were making plans to travel from the US to russia to pick up their little boy, the wife was so sick and feeling horrible and they couldn't figure out why...yes, she was pregnant. when it was time to go pick up their little boy from russia, she was far enough along in her pregnancy that she couldn't fly...so first-time dad, feeling admittedly overwhelmed, came to russia alone to pick up zander (short for alexander, russian version is alexai) their son. and i got to sit next to them on the plane. as this dad's backpack was overflowing and spilling out goldfish crackers, pretzels, juice boxes, small toys, i asked him if i could help and he took me up on the offer. so tim and i got to know these two over the next 12 hours of flying, and zander slept on me for most of that time.

i can't help but feel such overwhelming joy when i see these new families in the airport and on the airplanes, and be so excited for the lives that lay ahead.

i think of redemption when i hear these stories, and fresh starts.