an opportunity to be thankful for

Today we had the opportunity that very few international adoptive families have--we met Sam's birth mom.  It was an anxiety inducing, emotional experience, but it's one that we'll forever be thankful for.  What a blessing to have a piece of the puzzle that Sam will one day want to put together.  While the details of the piece will stay stored in our hearts until the day he wants to know them, I will say that it's an incredible thing to know how much she loves him and to be able to share that with him.

Before being matched with Sam, I often thought of birth mothers in the light of, "how could they give their babies up ... I could never do that." After being matched with him and loving him so much, I begin realizing that the way I thought of birth mothers was way off base.  The more I thought about Sam and how I loved him, the more I thought about his birth mom and how she must have loved him.  After all, she chose life.  God slowly changed my thinking toward the women who are known as birth moms, who make the hardest sacrifice a woman can make and choose her child's happiness over her own.  They know that it'll hurt to say that they can't raise their babies and to place them with families who can. They know that they'll be leaving the hospital with empty arms and hurting hearts, but they put their children first.  They want their children to have what's best for them, so they make the sacrifice.  It's the incredible love for their children that gives them the strength to do it.  And, after meeting a birth mom today who's forever joined with our family, I'm so thankful that God did a work on my heart these past two and half years and changed the way I looked at a very special group of women.

P.S.  As if today wasn't emotional enough, tomorrow we take custody of our sweet boy. From all the way on the other side of the world, we feel your prayers.  Please, dear friends, keep them coming!