Sunday, February 7, 2010

A Sister Comes Home

I'd like you all to meet the Shore family. From left to right - Caleb, Mrs. Kathleen, Isabel, Mr. David, and Nathan.
We've known the Shores since pretty much forever. For the past two years, they have been trying to adopt a child. They felt called by God to add to their family. Today their dream came true! After two years of waiting, baby Acacia Grace came home!
Acacia is from Ethiopia. Both of her parents had HIV. She was born a twin and, unfortunately, her twin sister died of HIV at birth. Miraculously, though, Acacia does not have it at all! That's why she was named Acacia - the acacia tree symbolizes healing and health! She had a big ol' crowd of people waiting to meet her at the airport today. And, let me just say, she's even more precious in real life than in the picture! I could clearly see the joy in the faces of her family members. I started tearing up. Because I know exactly how they feel. They've waited so long and finally, finally their baby is home. They are about to figure out just how God has blessed them with the gift of adoption! It goes so beyond just leaving the country or bringing the child home. I praise God for their family and for Acacia, and I pray for her healing (she has quite a bad cough). I couldn't be happier for the Shores!

Throughout the joy and celebration of Acacia's homecoming, I couldn't help but feel a pang in my heart. It's going to be another five months or so before we do that with Evan. I don't think people who haven't gone through this process can fully understand what I'm talking about. When I think of Evan, I feel a literal pull on my heart, like it's trying to burst out of my chest and fly to Russia to stay with Evan, to comfort her and let her know her big sister's coming for her. I know some people have to wait so much longer, but I think we all have the same feelings of impatience and longing. On the way home from meeting Acacia at the airport, this song came onto my iPod and I had to send up a prayer of thanks to God for it. It describes perfectly my relationship with Evan, and I've decided it's going to be my Evan theme song for now.

You all can listen to it and share your thoughts by commenting or shooting me an e-mail.

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