Our baby turns ONE today! Happy Birthday, sweet Ephraim!
It's a bittersweet day....
It seems strange that my child is celebrating his first birthday and I can't be there to watch him smash the cake (which I am assuming he isn't having) or play with a ballon (which I am guessing he has never seen). I can't be there to take a million pictures of him and I can't put him to bed and kiss his face and give him presents. Those are the bitter things. The sweet things are that I know and trust that God is near to this boy, I know we are one day closer to seeing him, and I know we have many birthdays left to celebrate with him and God willing this will be the last one for a long time that we are apart for.
I realize more everyday what a high calling adoption is. I'm not being a martyr here, I'm just saying that the reality is that this is a difficult journey and the cost is great and the suffering is real. Yes, the financial cost is great, but the cost to us as we wait, as we celebrate birthdays for babies we haven't met, as we cry out for these kids, as we fight for them to be released to us; there is a great cost to these things. Adoption is not an easy road and it is not for the faint of heart. BUT, we have learned things through this process that maybe nothing else could have taught us- and for that I am ever grateful.
I'm reminded of this passage from Romans 5:
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Will you celebrate with us today that this time of suffering is producing in us perseverance, character and HOPE? We are going to need all these things when we have a houseful of children who have come from hard places!
Happy Birthday, Ephraim- we love you with all of our hearts!
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