Christmas came a little early...

I've been tearing up all morning long. I can't seem to stop the tears from coming. I put on my waterproof mascara this morning because I knew I'd be weepy all day. These are good tears. Our God is so good. This morning we had the privilege of attending the official adoption hearing of our god daughter.

About 7 years ago our close friends had a baby girl who was born in June with Edward's syndrome. She was tiny and precious. We called her our little fairy. She was only here with us for 6 months and then she went home to be with her heavenly father. I'll never forget that call early in December when my girlfriend called to say that Paige was gone. Needless to say, we were broken hearted. We've never really gotten over baby Paige. We probably never will.

A couple of years after Paige had been gone, my friend (her mother) said to me..."I just have this feeling that God's going to drop a baby on our doorstep one day." I smiled and listened and my heart twinged because I honestly thought the odds of that were very slim. I gave her adoption agency names and of course prayed for her and her family. They eventually decided to go through the state in the hopes of adopting. If you know anything about adoptions now a days they are horrendously expensive and the process is very lengthy. They didn' t want to go that route. The odds however, of adopting a baby through the state is very small. But, they felt that this was the route that they were to take.

In February of 2007 my girlfriend called me and said, "I have a baby girl here at the house, I picked her up this morning." My immediate thoughts were something along the lines of "Did you abduct her?!? What do you mean you have a baby girl?" She told me how she had gotten a call from the Department of Social Services and that they would be fostering this little bundle with the potential hope of adoption depending on how the whole situation went. The Department's goal is always reunification with the parents. We were thrilled and we loved her along with them and found ourselves falling head over heels in love with this sweet little girl who looked to be a perfect match for our friends. One day a couple of months into the whole fostering thing and my girlfriend and I were having coffee and she shared, "If we have to give her back, it will break my heart, but I'll keep loving her as long as I have her. I really believe that's what God want us to do...to love and keep on loving." There have been long days since that cold February morning that they picked her up with nothing but the clothes on her tiny little self. But it was all so worth it, because today she became a legal member of their family. I say legal because she's been a part of them from the moment they picked her up. So we had ourselves a great big celebration this morning as Christmas came early in the form of a sweet little girl. God is so good, He took something that broke hearts and He has redeemed it for such good. When I look at the unconditional love that our friends have given I am so reminded of His unconditional love for us. Ray doesn't replace Paige...no one could ever take the place of another. But God in His goodness graced our friend's (and our) lives with another little girl who needed the love of a family. Merry Christmas! May you experience His redeeming unconditional love this season for yourself!