Monday, February 4, 2013

The "Perfect" Family

In reflecting this weekend after our last profile showing the title of this post popped into my mind.  "The Perfect Family."  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people say to us, "I cannot believe you guys have not gotten chosen yet, you're the perfect family"!  (On a side note, I am not telling you this to brag, I am telling you this to make a point. I actually get offended when people say this to me.)  It got me wondering.....what constitutes "The Perfect Family?"  What do Ross & I have that makes us "The Perfect Family?" The real answer is nothing because we are FAR from perfect!  We fight, we sin, we make mistakes.  Lots, and lots and LOTS of mistakes.  We ask for forgiveness, we cry, we say things we regret, we lose faith, and we are don't always appreciate what we have.  We are far from the perfect family.  However, we love as hard as we can, we try to live each day as the last, and we try to follow God's word each and every day, and when we don't we wake up the next day and try again. 

When looking at the profiles of the 30 waiting families at our agency, they all "look" perfect.  They all have perfect family pictures, choose the perfect words in their profiles and have the perfect jobs.  Each profile is unique in it's own way and almost all of them seem...well...."perfect!"  There are times when I think, "wow, I want this family to adopt me!" :)  However, when prospective birth parents look through the profile's they are not looking for the perfect family.  They are looking for families that have a connection with them.  They are looking for families that when they close their eyes, they can visualize their child being a part of that family.  So as we wait to be chosen, we pray that a birth family can look through the profiles, and see past the "perfectness" and find the real connection to the family.   

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful notes, texts and emails this weekend.  It is clear that this is what is meant to be.  Friday night I opened my my daily devotional book and this is what it said for Friday, Feb. 1st. : "Wait with Purpose"  "My (inner) self as well as my body is also exceedingly disturbed and troubled.  But you, O Lord, how long until You return and speak space to me? Return to my relief, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of Your steadfast love and mercy. Psalm 6:3-4.  It then goes on to say, "Avoid getting negative when you look at your circumstances.  Actively wait on God to give you strength to walk in the fruit of the Spirit.  Wait with purpose, silently listening for Him to speak, eagerly watching for Him to Act."  My tears stopped immediately after reading this scripture and I haven't cried about this profile showing since.  How amazing to have this reading for this exact same day.  I can tell you for sure, it was not coincidence. 

Many Blessings to you all this week.  We will be busy getting ready for Nolan's Monster Truck 5th Birthday Party for this weekend:)

Friday, February 1, 2013

Another Profile Showing

This morning our book was shown to a couple who live VERY close to us.  I have to admit, I was the most excited for this profile showing. We first heard about it a week ago but I didn't want to announce it until after I knew more information.  It seemed like the birth parents had everything that we were looking for and we loved that the baby would be born in the same hospital as Nolan was.  What a cool story to tell, right?  The only kind of scary part was that the baby was due Feb. 17th which is 2 weeks from now!  We were prepared to cancel our trip if this profile showing went well but I guess we will not be doing that.

I hate that I let my guard down and let myself get so excited about this one.  I haven't slept all week and if I did, my dreams were filled with this baby in our arms.  I had really almost 100% convinced myself this was it.  I also liked that the birth mom was open to everyone but would put preference on the longest waiting families.  Well at 18 months, we are in the top 10 of longest waiting.  On a happier note, she did choose a family who had been waiting 2.5 years and my heart does smile knowing after 2.5 years they are finally getting their call. 

So back to looking forward to the wonderful things that February is bringing us! Birthday parties and Beach trip.

Have a blessed weekend,