Rambling...

With Allie's first birthday fast approaching, we've been thinking a lot about Allie's birth mom. I've been wondering how she's doing and if she's having a difficult time knowing that Allie's birthday is approaching. I wonder if our thoughts will always gravitate towards her around these special days. How could we not think about her? This young woman helped to make all of our dreams come true. If it hadn't been for her, we might still be waiting to become a family of three. It's amazing to think that a young woman that we've only met in person two times, has given us the greatest gift we've ever been given!

Along those same lines, it's hard to grasp the idea that each and every one of our children will come into our family this way. In order for us to add to our family, someone else has to go through an amazingly difficult and painful process.

I remember last year this time, Cory and I really struggled not knowing what to pray for. Should we pray for a child to come to us through adoption? We struggled to pray for that because we knew how much pain that would bring someone else. We decided to pray for strength. Strength for our birth mom, for our future child, for us and for everyone involved. In the end, I believe that our prayers really did pay off.

Fast forward one year and we are again praying for strength. We pray for strength for "T" and her family as we can only imagine how difficult this time of year must be for them. I pray that they know how much love we have for both Allie and for them. We also are praying for strength for our future child/ren's birth families. They may already be going through unbelievably difficult times and we pray for their strength and for their health.