Sharing in the joy

So I just have to share some excitement today: My dear friend Kristin and her husband Jim have been pursuing infant adoption through a national adoption agency for just about a year. They got word last week that their profile was selected by a birth mother who wanted to meet them. After a video conference, they learned that this birth mother had selected them to parent her baby boy due in February! This has been a long awaited answer to prayers.

As is the case with most adoption scenarios, there is still an air of uncertainty until after the parental rights are relinquished, which cannot be done until after a child is born. While my friends are definitely excited about this development, they are appropriately hesitant in their joy. It's an interesting tightrope to walk--on one hand, a couple wants to be prepared for this potential child to join their family (anyone who has children know it's quite a lot of work to simply prepare a home for a new baby), but they also don't want to have to take apart an entire nursery and pack up clothes and other baby paraphernalia should this opportunity fall through. The prospective adoptive couple also struggles with deciding to share or withhold their enthusiasm for fear that if it does fall through, they'll have to live through the pain of this heartbreak over and over as they inform their friends and family. It's a gray area that most people are unaware of due to lack of experience with adoption.

Despite the gray area and uncertainty, we could not be happier for them. We are continuing to pray for them and now for the birth family of this little boy who could be theirs in just a few months. Whether it's international or domestic, infant adoption is expensive--so if you'd like to contribute even a few used, baby-friendly items (they are in need of winter clothing for a newborn and 3+ month items) to my friends, let me know. Here's a link to their baby registry for more specifics. Every little bit helps!