collision...

(I worked really hard to capture the collision of light between the two of them.
A little spark of light and love. Smile.)

Over a year ago she had a conversation with her husband that went something like this:

I know we aren't getting any younger, our two kids aren't little anymore, but we have an extra bedroom in our house and plenty of space...why would we not  fill it with a baby that needs us, that we can adopt into our family?

That's exactly what I would have thought. Not really. (Even though I have thought about foster parenting off and on throughout the years, I'm feeling a bit painfully selfish at this moment in my life.)

After some reality checks and prayerful moments they decided to go for it.

A short time later, after they dropped their junior high aged son off at a summer camp, they came home to a whirlwind of events that led them to pick up a preemie baby that was waiting for them in a foster home nearby. When they picked up their son from camp a week later they brought him his new baby brother. (Surprise!)

Now the extra bedroom belongs to this peanut of a baby brother. He is full of laughter and big smiles. Their family is complete, filled with life and love, just the way it was meant to be.

As I spent time with our friends Sunday evening I had to pull my girlfriend out into the fading light to capture her with her son. I really struggle to go on with words here as there are none sufficient to describe what I felt, or what I feel looking at these photos. I will try...

• I am struck by the love of God to rewrite our destinies. When we are seemingly lost to this world, we are found by a God that knows the number of hairs upon our head. 

• We are never without hope, without an eye upon us to know what we need, when we need it and in what manner it should be met. 

• There is a place for each one of us. That place is a part of our story.

• And I am awed by the limitless capacity of love that resides in each one of us, if we so choose to yield to it.

What a beautiful picture of the ultimate form of selfless love: putting your own needs aside to do what is good for the sake of another. I know that we are not all called to adopt needy foster babies, but I am quietly humbled by those that are. There is a special God shaped corner of their hearts that require nothing in return for the love they give. From that place they say,  I know we aren't getting any younger, our two kids aren't little anymore, but we have an extra bedroom in our house and plenty of space...why would we not  fill it with a baby that needs us, that we can adopt into our family?
Of course. Of course.


Nothing is more beautiful than to witness the collision of purpose and action, love made real by obeying the whisper on our hearts to get up and act. And nothing is more amazing to behold when two stories collide in that perfect divine timing, when all the world sees that it was meant to be.

A lesson for my heart indeed.


******

 
p.s. Remember this meant to be story?

p.p.s. Just had to share...I have known this sweet friend for twenty years and counting. I first set eyes on her and her then boyfriend, now hubby, in Genetics 10, a college general ed course for nongenetics majors. And it was at their wedding that I grabbed the hand of my then good friend, now hubby, to dance. I had no idea that he liked me, nor that his heart thumped in his chest the entire time I taught him how to swing dance. I just remember the big smile on his face as we made our way around the dance floor. Two stories colliding in that perfect diving timing...meant to be.

Meant to be

Let me tell you a story about little big brother...

And big big brother...

And how their new little baby sister and baby brother...

were meant to be.

Their mama and dada were happy with their two older boys but something stirred in them to have another. For various reasons, they wanted to explore adopting and decided to jump through every hoop, sign every dotted line, and wait for a match made in heaven. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be.

But as I often find the story goes...while they were waiting, mama discovered she was pregnant! Thrilled with their surprise, they called the adoption people and removed their name from the potential parent list. 

They prepared for number three.  Big brothers and family were excited, all was well.

Until one day...

They received a phone call from the adoption people and it went something like this:

Adoption people: We have a baby for you.

Parents:  What do you mean?! There must be some confusion, we took our names off the list.

Adoption people: Not sure what you mean, but there is a birth family that would like you to have their baby.

Parents: But...we...are pregnant, and...took our names off of the list?

Adoption people: This family has chosen you.

Parents: But we...are.......When is the mother due?

Adoption people: Any day.

It took a prayerful moment and a quick intake of all that this would mean (bringing home a new born while pregnant with another, four kids instead of three) and yet deep in their hearts they knew that if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. How can you argue with being chosen? 

Days later they brought home baby sister (whom, I think, personally felt it was time to give mom a break from all the testosterone in the house. I mean look at those girly lips and sweet cheeks!).

And a couple of months later they brought home baby brother...

As I stood over these two, clicking away, I felt this voice in my heart say: nothing is bigger than Me Tracey. Not your plans, not your logic, not your defenses, or excuses, or your limitations. If something is meant to be, it is meant to BE. 

When we participate in the divine, the journey is amazing. 

Because I am discovering that God dreams bigger for our lives than we do for ourselves. 

I do not think this mama knew that her heart had room for two more, but God did. And when you are chosen, how great the honor and privilege to step up to the call. No matter how difficult or what you think your limitations may be, when you participate (fear and all) the return on your investment will be what you could not have possibly imagined. It is too big for your finite mind to even comprehend.

When something is meant to be...difficult or miraculous...it is a gift wrapped in an unusual package. Opening it up we find may find that it was more than we thought we could handle or imagine, but we find that it was created specifically for us to grow us, teach us, move us to a place that was better than where we once stood.

How great a gift.