Blessings in the Brokenness

“Where did he come from? Why couldn’t his real mom take care of him? So she just didn’t want him?”      These are the questions of a grade-school aged girl I had a conversation with in my car a couple of months ago. This was certainly not the first time someone has randomly asked me questions that catch me off-guard. Young kids tend to ask questions more “bluntly,” and that’s to be expected—though I think you’d probably be shocked by some of the equally blunt questions I’ve received from complete-stranger adults in the middle of the store. I have mixed feelings when it comes to adoption questions. When friends & family ask questions, I welcome it! I love that they care enough about our family and our son that they want to grow their awareness about adoption. When random strangers ask questions, I don’t always know how to respond because it’s difficult to determine why they want to know. Where is the line drawn between 1) Genuine interest & wanting to l...

“I am so glad that you are pregnant again—I was praying that would happen for you soon.” These are words that I have heard often over the past couple of months that have evoked a vast array of emotions in me. (Before I explain, let me be clear that if you have said these words to me, I am not offended)! As many of you know, Caleb and I have had a bumpy-road journey towards growing our family: a difficult 3-year season with a health issue, dark periods of wrestling with God and doubting His goodness, a long adoption match that fell through prior to the adoption of our son, and most recently, the loss of a child whom we had prayed for and tried for a long time to conceive. Along with these heartaches, we have also experienced great joys—the nearness of God through heartache, the sufficiency of His grace and provision, a deeper knowledge of His goodness, the abundant love of the body of Christ, the inexpressible awe at the way God brought our first child into our lives, and the bles...