My husband and I have talked about adoption for years. Always casually – “Would you?” “Sure, I would. Would you?” “Yeah, I think so.” End of conversation.
Our hearts were always open to the possibility, but our discussions never moved beyond those open-ended pontifications. We already have two beautiful, little toe-headed boys of our own and didn’t feel any need to rock the we’ve-finally-got-our-heads-above-water boat.
Because we like, just got our heads above water.
So we tabled the discussion for the 12th of never and moved on with our lives – until one blisteringly hot Tennessee Sunday. We hadn’t broached the subject of adoption for months, maybe even a full calendar year, but during our worship time at church that morning, I had the almost audible thought, “We should probably adopt a kid.” Being the East Coast-raised cynic that I am, I immediately launched into some impressive mental-acrobatics, trying to figure out why such a leap of faith wouldn’t work.
It’s too expensive. It’s too risky. It’s too much.
But try as I might, I couldn’t shake the idea that God had spoken those words into my heart and that there was a child, somewhere out there in the world, who needed to come home. But because as I've mentioned, I am a cynic, I asked God to tell me again. And louder this time. Tell me what I was supposed to do. Make it clear. Make it real. And so I prayed about it and I kept it a secret. I didn’t tell my friends, or my mom or even my husband – because I wanted to hear it from Him.
And four days later – He told me.
Sitting at dinner with my husband and my two beautiful, little toe-headed boys, the fate of my family was graciously revealed to me. I’ll never remember exactly how the conversation started, but what I do remember is without me mentioning a word, my husband looked across the table at me and said, “So, we should probably adopt a kid, right?”
So I said yes. Because that is what you do when you are offered an opportunity to be a part of something amazing.
You just say yes.
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This month we are delighted to partner with the State of Montana on a really cool national story-telling campaign called “THE SKY'S THE LIMIT.” For Montana, this project – including a special edition of Mamalode magazine and accompanying video series – features heartfelt stories about life, work and play under the big sky. But whether we are here or there, sky's the limit is about dreams come true, being your best self, letting your imagination lead and perhaps, conquering the impossible.
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