Blessings!

Since Curt and I began this journey of adoption, we have been blessed by so many people in so many ways.  Some of these people are our closest family and friends, some are people we haven’t seen or talked to in quite some time, and some are people that we don’t even know.  

Christmas time this year was fun!  Our child is already so loved by our family and friends!  Our child already received some fun Christmas gifts.  Here are a few pictures of the cool things our child received.  

 One of my good friends moms bought us this cute blanket at a craft show.  Curt and I talked about buying one gift for baby B from now until we receive our referral.  We could very slowly fill up the nursery!  Kim gave us this blanket as our "November gift" for baby.  Thanks for being so thoughtful, Kim!

 This elephant is from Uncle Nick, Auntie April, and cousins Kayla and Zack.  They also got our sweet babe a fun play house tube to crawl through. That's staying in its packaging for the time being :)

 This poem is so special.  This is from Uncle Dan and Auntie Meghan and cousin Jayden.  Auntie Meghan was also adopted, and this is a poem near and dear to her heart.  Thanks so much for sharing it with us, Meghan!

Whoever You Are was given to us by some good friends, Jon and Ashley, when we decided to adopt.  Welcome Home Little Baby was given to us by Dan, Meghan, and Jayden as well.  As a teacher, I LOVE LOVE LOVE books.  This nursery of ours will be filled with great books for our children.  Thanks so much for getting our library started with some great multi-cultural books.

This necklace is an Ethiopian cross.  Curt received this from his Grandma.  What a great keepsake.  It was actually made in Ethiopia and purchased right here in Holland.  Thanks, Grandma!

This gift isn't for baby, but for me... and I love it.  So much!  My mother in law and father in law had this necklace made for me.  I love wearing it as we prayerfully wait on God's timing!

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We have received many emails and notes from people that we haven’t met, but they have shared parts of their adoption journey, and others have shared that they are praying us through our journey.  

Last weekend, Curt and I encountered a very cool experience.  We LOVE our new adoption t-shirts, and we envision a day where there will be an airport filled with many people wearing these t-shirts and welcoming our child to their forever home. 

We decided to wear these t-shirts on Saturday as we ran some errands and watched some club volleyball.  We stopped at Costco to pick up a couple things for dinner, and one of the workers approached us and said, “Tell me about your shirts.  What’s the story?  Are you moving there? Adopting?”  We shared a little portion of how God lead us to adopt.   

With tears in her eyes, she shared the adoption journeys that her and her husband have been through in adopting two precious girls, one from Ethiopia and one from Ghana.  She showed pictures, and shared bits and pieces of their girls’ story, and the ways that God has worked in their lives in the past couple of years.  She then asked how she could get a shirt.  We told her that we could send her one.  She then ran off and came back with a check for us.  She said she really didn’t need a t-shirt.  She said she loves hearing about God moving in the hearts of others to adopt.  She didn’t know us, didn’t know much about our journey, but was passionate about adoption and bringing children home to their forever families.  She is working with her church to start a means of support for adoptive families.  

While we may never have the opportunity to reciprocate the blessings we’ve been showered with, we’ve certainly been touched and humbled by these experiences.  We look forward to sharing our journey with other families looking into adoption.  We look forward to blessing others who have answered to call to take a leap of faith and adopt a child into their family.  And most of all, we look forward to sharing with our child someday how much they were loved by SO many people (friends, family, and strangers alike) before they were even born!