David's birthday

I guess it is appropriate that I should start my blog on the birthday of one of my children. David, child #3 and son #2 turned 16 today. How did this possibly happen?

It seemed like only a very few years ago we received a morning call from our adoption agency asking if Syd could come home so they could do our home study TODAY. It had only been 5 weeks since we had contacted them asking if we could be considered as potential adoptive parents. Those five weeks were a whirlwind of paperwork, meetings, more paperwork, interviews, etc.

The agency director, dear Miss Teri Blanton, arrived early in the afternoon, with a very wet behind the ears intern in tow. We sat in the living room having a cheery conversation while Rachel (5) and Nathan (3) played nicely. I'll never forget the look on the intern's face when Rachel pulled out Eric Carle's The Very Quiet Cricket and proceeded to "read" it to Nathan.

"'Good morning,' said the spittlebug, slurping in a sea of froth," Rachel intoned in her sweet little five-year old voice.

The intern thought Rachel was a genius and I was a wonder mother. In her mind, we had passed the home visit test with flying colors. After wrapping up the formalities, Teri looked at her watch and announced, "Well, we better get going. We have a plane to catch. We are flying to Lubbock to pick up your new baby. He was born this morning."

Shock! Disbelief! Could this possibly be happening so quickly? After trying to get pregnant for 7 years, waiting and waiting for the adoptions of our first two children, we could not believe that the wheels of the adoption machine could ever turn so quickly. But it was, and our precious, precocious, delightful David was coming to join our family.

Today, that precious baby is a 6: 1" almost-man. He has traded soft-as-silk cheeks for scruffy whiskers and sweet, cooing sounds for a deep voice. He towers over me, and I am thankful he is a cooperative fellow, because I don't think I could really make him do anything. He brings his signature brand of laughter and joy to this family. And, while his older sister, Rachel, started our family on the adoption journey, David moved us to new horizons. With David, our family branched out of our 2-parent, 2-children who "look just like their daddy" comfort zone into the life of a multi-racial, large family that garners second looks wherever we go.


So, I guess I know what I need to blog about. Perhaps some people might be interested in hearing about the life we lead, the joys we experience, and the struggles we face as we live out our lives in northeast Texas. Others might be encouraged as I share the way God worked in miraculous ways to build this family. I don't want this blog to be about me. I want it to bring glory and honor to the One who created us, who sustains us, and who gives me strength to go one living day by day, firmly entrenched in His love and grace. To Him be all the glory -- forever and ever.