The Start of Things to Come, Part I

It was so clever how He brought us to adoption. For me, the scales had to fall off of my eyes, so the Lord showed me that adoption is beautiful and not different, not different at all to Him. For David, it's simple. You ask why, and he'll say: God adopted me. So lovely.

It took one conversation while we were dating to see that we were on the same page, and past that it all made sense. We agreed one day, Lord willing, we would look at India - and that was that. Little Abear came to us at exactly the right moment, filling our home with this love unimaginable. We knew we wanted more of this, more love/baby laughter/lifelong hearts full. Two years ago we decided to see whether God would give us another birth or an adoption - or both. 

In July of 2012 we attended an informational meeting on adoption. We learned, we talked, we signed paperwork that September. Oh that home study, how it loomed over us - the first "legal" step to our littlest Abear. We slowly signed lines and gave life stories, trying to navigate through to where this child would hail from. While looking at country qualifications, India was allowed to slip from my mind, because we weren't meant to go there, yet. From all of the countries and domestic entities we researched, nothing seemed right - for countless reasons. I felt hopeless, and a little alone.

In the summer of 2013 we participated in a 10 week course on becoming foster/adopt parents, another door that ended up closing for now. This last winter I was led to more international agencies, more placing entities I didn't know if I could entrust our journey to. Another country on my mind, and it all seemed so insecure. There was nothing I could be sold out to, nothing I could passionately pursue. And that passion, that's what my little one deserves.

R. answered the phone, and more importantly so graciously answered all of my concerns and questions. This adoption liason, comfortable and confident, she put me so much more at ease than most others before her. I kept her information tucked away, just in case this new country happened to fall into place. A friend put me in contact with a gal who had adopted from our potential pursuit, and this conversation only confirmed my growing concerns. Options were increasingly exhausted, and so were we. I was looking at the website of said liason's agency, and there was India. This light, this forgotten land. I looked at the stipulations for adoption, and we met every single criteria. Our family fit, and that passion that was once there for India, reignited a little.