Hard to put into words

I'm just going to start this by saying I do not want to write this post. It's close to my heart, and I do not have the ability to write well enough to convey the magnitude of my feelings. However, this theme keeps coming back to me, so here we go.

When we were in the process of adopting our son we hit several delays along the way. Because his adoption was an international adoption, we were not with him during the nearly two year process to adopt him. We missed a lot of firsts. We ended up adopting a walking, talking, very active toddler when I had really hoped the adoption would be able to complete while he still had some infant qualities. I find this funny now that he Is almost six because in comparison he really was very little, but at the time I really grieved the loss of his infancy and early toddler days.

At the time we were adopting I read a lot of blogs written by moms who were adopting from the same country. One day I read a verse on one of those blogs that leapt off the screen at me. The verse was Joel 2:25: "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten". I read that verse as a promise that God saw my heartache, he had not forgotten me. At the time I assumed that the years we would have together with our son would wipe away the pain of the delays, and that has absolutely been our experience. What I did not expect was getting to relive many of those firsts and those stages with my son by my side as a foster family. I could not have imagined the joy of watching my son tell a child who has been abused, "you are safe" - the very words we said to him over and over as he adjusted to our home. I could not have imagined how amazing it would be to listen to my son calm a screaming toddler in the car with the empathy of one who once had his whole life uprooted.

After the promise in verse 25, verse 26 promises "and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you" . Lately, I find myself in awe of the plan God orchestrated in my life.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" (Ephesians 3:20-21)