To My Girls on Adoption Day!

Girls,
Today life seems a little bigger and a lot more designed. Today is a bold reminder that life is bigger than I even imagined. Today marks the end of a struggle and the realization of something far bigger than me. Today the struggles of Foster parenting come to an end; you are finally home. You will never have to be frightened when we pack a bag or when a stranger shows up at our home. You are home. No more brave faces when we drive across town, once and for all you are home. No more will I have to put on a brave face when a stranger drives away with you on a visit, you are home. Today brings with it the assurance that I won’t have to wait by the phone to hear how my life, your life, our life will change because of what seems like the arbitrary decisions of a few strangers. Today, a judge will confirm something bigger, God’s plan. I wasn’t there when you were born. I wasn’t there when you took your first steps or said your first words but today a judge confirms that even then, when I didn’t know you and you didn’t know me, you were my girls. Today marks the end of your struggle of getting to me and the end of my struggle getting to you. Today is the realization that despite all that you have been through, God in His infinite love and wisdom has worked out His plan to bring you home. Today is a reminder that family is bigger than biology and genetics, family is the work of God. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5). The picture that Paul uses to help his readers understand what happens when a person comes into the family of God is adoption. Adoption is something that is received. I will adopt you today. What happens today it is the realizing of the plan of God from eternity past; you have always been mine. Today I realize that years ago sitting in class hearing my favorite college professor talk about his love for his children (some biological and some adopted); God was bringing you to me, even before you were. I realize that those key conversations standing outside of a Shoney’s or that unexpected conversation with a friend from the past; God was brining you to me. I realize now, looking back, just how intricate that God’s plan truly is and even as there are some things that I cannot explain, “the fullness of time has come”, and you are finally home. Today we all get to see what God has been working since before time began you are my daughters, always have been always will be.

Daddy