Patience

There is a limit to my calm demeanor while waiting for something good to change my life. When I know something amazing, that is also life changing, is about to happen, I tend to go about my days in a whirlwind. I tend to speed up life. Wishing and wanting for that day to finally be upon me.

I am good for about a few months (tops!) of this crazy-inner-plea-to-be-patient.

When you ask me about the future, about my kids going to college, landing their careers, getting married, having babies of their own, I am patient. No doubt excited, but patient. I know it will happen when it is right, I will be prepared for that next chapter.

But I remember back to the days when I wanted to start our family. There were months of discussion and talk about when was the right timing. I was not patient. I wanted an instant family. Thankfully, God gave me that instant Yes for both pregnancies. There was no waiting. Dare I say, He knew I couldn't handle any waiting to announce a pregnancy?

So when I have friends, for whatever personal reason they have, long to start a family or grow their family, through pregnancy, or adoption, I want that instant family for them too. I know it is not my personal business, but I feel the energy of "Okay Already" from the first moment they divulge their dream. I admit I may not be a great friend during this time, as remember ... patience is not my strong suit. I want them to have that "instant fulfilment of dream" as much as if it were my own.

Imagine waiting for three years for the adoption of your child. Three. Years. As my friend stated so perfectly with tears last October, "You know how many of my friends and family are on round two of adding to their family - and I'm still waiting for my one addition?" The pain. The worry. The feeling like she had been forgotten by God was so real. I lost it right alongside her.

The road has not be the most easy, but the joy and reward have been. Imagine the phone ringing a few weeks later - at her breaking point and most vulnerable - to hear that God had a child waiting to join her family on the other side of the world. The call finally had come. She had never been forgotten.

Mid-day last Saturday, February 23rd, she flew home with her son to join her family of six, to make a perfect seven. The airport was crowded with family and friends who wanted to support this beautiful Homecoming.

If you have never been to an Adoption Airport Homecoming, I hope you do, some day in your lifetime. It is the most amazing, surreal, loving, hope bearing, joyful moment you could ever imagine. Different from a birth at a hospital, but at the same level of breath taking.

The pictures really capture the moment. The intensity of friends supporting family, the movement from making posters, to watching kids play, to Dad sitting in a chair in the middle of the large open atrium waiting. The Grandpa riding the escalator up to catch the view from the second floor, peering over the baggage claim carousels waiting for that first glimpse of his daughter and grandson. And then taking the escalator back down when it was still just too early. To then riding it back up. The siblings trying to hold their excitement in check - running here and there, with the Dad trying to keep them all together so every child gets that first moment, and doesn't miss it.

And then - the moment when Dad is summons to meet Mom and Son deep into baggage claim where they are alone, and then seeing the three of them appear to the crowd, hand-in-hand. No words. The crowd of family and friends fell silent. Strangers passing by, curious at this large crowd positioned in a massive huddle with camera's posed before them, fell silent too and just stopped. No words. The sounds of camera's clicking and soft "Ohhh" and sighs were the only sign that we were still there.

Three years.

Patience is necessary.

Patience drives families together.

Patience is a gift from God.

Welcome Home, Henry Z!! Lots of Love and Joy as you grow.