Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Wishing all the moms out there 

a blessed Mother's Day!

For most, this day brings great joy but for some it brings pain.  For those missing a mom today, for those who don't have a great relationship with a mom, or for those women desperately longing to be a mom, you have my love and prayers.  I'm taking today to honor my mom publicly because she is simply extraordinary and this year I have seen her heart grow in ways I'm sure she can't even fathom.

You see, when I told my mom back in the Spring of 2009 that we were growing our family by adoption, she was positive about the idea but the hesitation in her voice over the phone (or was it the webcam?) was unspoken but clearly audible.  I remember saying, "Mom, we're adopting!" with high excitement in my voice.  Her words were a quiet, drawn out, "You are?"  Again, she was not being negative in the slightest, but her response was much more reserved than thrilled.

Throughout our adoption journey she supported us in prayer, she helped out financially in ways I just don't deserve.  She was there when we got the call that Nepal was closed and we lost the dream of a Nepali daughter in our family.  She cried with me when Jay lost 2 jobs.  She drove 8 hours from Chicago to Nebraska when my gall bladder decided it wanted out when Jay was working in California and I was all alone with the boys.  She drove out again for a whirlwind weekend when the house sold and we had to pack it all up.  She'll always be there for one of her kids, no question.

She's the best!

On August 30, 2011 when we received our referral and first photos of our daughter, I couldn't hold back and keep the photos from my mom, my best friend.  Her words on the phone after opening the email were,

"That baby is beautiful."  

Not "Your baby," or "Your daughter" is beautiful.   Just "That baby."  

Please, don't be quick to think badly about her reaction.  

This was her first, close-hand experience with adoption and it was all new to her.  And she had already seen us lose our first adoption from Nepal, so there was good reason for her hesitation.  We were hesitant too, for gosh sakes!  Again, she was always positive, yet always reserved.  I knew without a doubt that once she met my daughter in person she'd melt and love would just pour forth from her heart.

Later that fall my friend Julie told me to read Choosing to See by MaryBeth Chapman.  In her book, Mary Beth wrote about her experiences with international adoption and I knew even in the first few chapters that I had to send the book to my mom for a Christmas gift.  Once I finished, I was quick to order one on Amazon and have it shipped to her.  I knew it would arrive long before Christmas but I told her not to wait for the holiday and asked her to read it immediately.

I wish I could have been there in the room when she read the passage early in the book that I knew would grab her and not let her go.  Mary Beth wrote of meeting her first adopted daughter for the first time:

"In that moment, time stopped.  It was like God was speaking to me directly.  "Mary Beth, you thickheaded woman, do you not understand now that this is the very way I see you?   You are this orphan!  I adopted you and you are Mine!  I bought you for a price!  Do you see how you love this baby?  That's just a faint reflection of how much I love you!  You didn't have a name, and I gave you a name.  You did nothing to deserve my love, and I love you anyway.  You had no hope, no future, and now you are a daughter of the King!""

Once my mom finished the book, she knew without a doubt that we were really doing what God called us to do.  She was no longer hesitant in the slightest, even despite losing Nepal, even despite losing Jay's job in Nebraska, even despite not being able to sell that Nebraska house for over a year, even despite surgical bills, even despite losing a car in a wreck in California and even losing the new job just one year later.  God used Mary Beth's book to break her heart for the orphan.

At the end of May 2012, I Skyped with my mom while I was in China, even though I only had audio on my original iPad and no video.  I know my mom hardly slept those 10 days I was overseas and she was checking the computer over and over again for email updates, Facebook posts and blog updates and photos, more photos!  When I landed in Texas and we had settled into my mother-in-law's condo just minutes after setting foot on solid ground, we were there on Skype as she watched us eat McDonald's (sad, I know but it was late) at the kitchen table, L enjoying food in her high chair and seeing her Grammie for the very first time.

She has visited us twice here in Texas, once for L's birthday last July and again this past Easter.  Watching my mom with her granddaughter made my heart so happy.  My daughter's unique DNA and differences from our family didn't matter one bit.  Grammie was smitten!  You would never know that she was once hesitant (yet positive, I assure you) about international adoption.  I knew my mom's heart would grow by leaps and bounds and having a front row seat to that transformation was simply a joy for me.

She has a new love and passion inside her heart that it exciting to see.  She wants her church (the one I grew up in) to start an orphan ministry and she wants to play a role.  She has been a prayer warrior for so many of my friends adopting and for others home with their kids who endured surgeries once home.

My mom is the best mom around!

My mom is a fantastic Grammie to all my kids.

She's my best friend!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  

I love you!

My mom meeting L for the first time at the airport in July 2012.

I think the look on my mom's face says it all in this photo:
LOVE

Grammie and her granddaughter on her 2nd birthday.

Walking outside in Horseshoe Bay.

Me, my mom, and all my kids.
July 2012 in Horseshoe Bay.

My mom and stepdad visit our new
San Antonio home for Easter this year.

Grammie and L on Easter at our church.
March 2013.

Terrible of me and Miss L certainly wasn't cooperating,
but it was the best shot we had of the 3 of us girls
during their visit.