And So It Begins...

My sister just began the beautiful journey of adoption. Well, that is not entirely true. I am certain that this journey started long ago, long before trying to concieve, or infertility testing. Even long before she was married or dating. You see, ever since I can remember, Mel has had the gift of mercy. She has always been easily moved to tears by someone's story and moved to action by someone's need. I know this not just from the many times I observed it, but from personal experience.

Melodie walked faithfully with me on my own journey of adoption, praying diligently for my two beautiful baby girls, as well as with our sister, Amy, on her journey through years of infertility. (Amy and Daniel have two amazing, healthy boys that I adore and who I believe are products, partially of Mel's fervent, consistent prayers.) She walked with us, letting us feel all that we needed to and, no doubt, feeling it herself only slightly less. I can only hope that I have walked and will walk this road with her in a somewhat comparable fashion.

This gift that she has, this openness of heart, will serve her well during these next few months when the process of adoption threatens to take on a robotic feel. (Please read the following sentence in a robot-sounding voice)...get yourself fingerprinted, prepare yourself for a home safety inspection, fill out paperwork which consists of questions ranging from how do you plan on disciplining your child? to what is your policy on nakedness in the home? (what?!?!...I didn't know there needed to be a policy!), write a check, write a check, write a check, etc. But, with Mel's heart, it only threatens to be robotic.

I have no doubt that this will, instead, be a time of the sweetest glimpses of God in her life. She will be able to see the mundane as ways in which she is being positioned to recieve a huge blessing from the Lord. Ways in which we ALL, her family, are being postitioned to recieve our own blessing from Him, through her growing family.

In a lot of ways, I envy her. This may be something that can only be said by someone who has experienced this journey. Envy is not something people tend to feel for those who have struggled with infertility. But, I know what is ahead. A life-changing, Spirit-filled journey that leaves you with the assurance that you will never look at God's sovereignty in the same way again. Already I can tell she is beginning to see glimpses of his perfect plan for her life. I know that she will complete this journey in awe at the way God has sweetly expanded her own dreams. Grateful for how he interrupts our well-planned future. Aren't we all grateful for that?

So, Mel, if this winding path seems familiar it's because you've traveled it before, twice really, as it led to Hope and then Isabella. I am privileged to travel now with you and wait in anticipation for where it will lead. May your journey look nothing like you thought it would!

P.S. It should go without saying that my brother-in-law, her amazing husband, began the process right along side her. As a side note, he has leaped into this process with the fervor that a wife can only hope for in a husband. I am grateful, for Mel's sake, for his enthusiam, his tender care, his vision for their family, and his heart that beats with a stong desire for God's purpose in his own life and in hers. What a great man of God! I love you, J.