In this sometimes challenging life of capes and combat boots and crazy Super-Spouse work schedules and constant medical, emotional and therapy needs, our team is big on gratitude.
We learned long ago that it is the antidote to the greed, entitlement and straight-up selfishness that we, if we’re just being honest, all so easily fall into when we’re not intentional.
It’s the anchor that keeps us grounded, the perspective provider we all so desperately need.
And it’s the lesson that God has taught our team over and over and over again.
That no matter WHAT circumstances we face in this life, there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for — the biggest being a God who SEES, KNOWS and CARES.
And so every day [that we’ve gotten our acts together in time before running out the door for school in the mornings], we write one thing we are grateful for in our gratitude journals. (Think Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts, but in Star Wars and Spidey notebooks.)
Although we face our challenges (among them, the sleep deprivation that has sent me running back to coffee after my 21-day hiatus), we never want to forget how very, very blessed we are.
To get the privilege of living together under one roof.
To get the honor of raising four boys who teach us more about love and life each day than we could ever teach them.
To get to live in a country where the resources and services we need to provide for our children are so readily available to us.
And we never want our children or our team to take for granted all God has done for even one moment.
Normally, we take November, a month set aside for thankfulness, to complete a family thankfulness tree.
But THIS November, during National Adoption Month, as our team writes one thing we’re grateful for each day on the leaves of the trees that I then keep and display down our hallway every fall, we’ll also be sharing one of the BIGGEST blessings we’re grateful for.
The gift of adoption.
Because although we face our giants, although we spend more time in waiting rooms than at dinner tables, although we have to approach life through the lens of the history and past that each of the children who grew in our hearts instead of our bellies brings to the table, we simply cannot imagine our lives without these two sweet and sassy superheroes.
The thought of missing out on the JOY and RICHNESS they’ve added to our days seriously makes me physically ill.
And the truth is, fear could have so easily robbed us of two of the biggest blessings of our family’s lives.
It could have held us back from THIS.
It could have held us back from THIS.
It could have completely kept us from THIS.
We don’t ever want to forget how different our lives could have looked if we had allowed fear to win.
We don’t ever want to forget how we were one “no” away from turning our backs on the smiles that completely light our days.
We don’t ever want to forget how easily WE COULD HAVE MISSED THIS.
Want to see in pictures and videos why we are SO GRATEFUL for these orphans-no-more who have turned our lives upside down?
Join us on the Facebook page every weekday morning in November for one of a million reasons why we’re so glad we DIDN’T miss this.
#wecouldhavemissedthis #NationalAdoptionMonth #changetheorphanstory #adoptioniswhatimgratefulfor
*** Huge thanks to No Hands But Ours for initiating the #wecouldhavemissedthis campaign during National Adoption Month 2016. See their beautiful post with pictures from adoptive families around the country HERE. ***