Waiting for the Reveal

As I scrolled through Facebook today, a few friends' statuses sparked a chord with me.  Specifically the few moms I know who are sitting at the top of a waitlist right now, longing for that life-changing call to find out the little person(s) God has waiting for them.  Although I don't mind distancing myself from those all too familiar emotions most of the time, this week the memories are coming back like a flood.  It's still hard to believe that two years have passed since we walked in their shoes, cried their tears, and prayed their prayers.

One week before Cocoa's referral

God's timing in these cases never cease to amaze me.  I look forward to the day I get to rejoice with each of these families celebrating their referrals and hear how God used every detail of their adoption journey for His glory.

Our referral call

On the day we received Cocoa's referral, I remember listening to our case worker on the phone and crying as she shared details of our daughter's story that were so beautiful and intricate, only He could have written it.  Even recently it dawned on me how beautiful the timing of her referral was.  I hadn't connected the pieces of the puzzle at the time, but it was just three years earlier that we were also in a waiting phase.  I'm not sure I have shared that part of our story here before...

In the summer of 2007, after four and a half years of marriage, my husband and I decided that we felt ready to start our family.  It never crossed my mind that it might not happen right away.  After several months of trying, we found out we were pregnant!  Although I was bursting at the seams to tell everyone we knew, we decided to wait until we were a little further along.  Days before we about to announce the great news to our family, I started bleeding.  After a lengthy visit to the doctor and several tests later, they called me to confirm I was having a miscarriage.  We both took the weekend off work to mourn our loss, only telling our employers.

I know many people think we are crazier than heck for keeping that from our families at the time...but you have to understand that we were about to surprise them with awesome news and that this was going to be the first grandchild on my husband's side of the family!   I couldn't bear to ruin the surprise with the news of a miscarriage.

So fast forward to February 2008 when we had just moved into our fixer upper and waiting for God to say "YES" to bringing a child into this world.  I'm sure you can imagine the overwhelming emotions when we got another positive pregnancy test.  We were a little more cautious with our excitement the second time around, but, that being said, I knew I couldn't go through another miscarriage without the support of our family so we decided to share our news almost immediately.

One week before Hollywood was born
Photo Credit: Heather Cowill Photography

It may seem insignificant to some - but I find it really beautiful that exactly two years later we were ending our wait to see our daughter.  That two years after finding out I was going to be a MAMA for the first time, I found out I was going to be a mama for the second time.  Only God could time that so beautifully.

The first picture we ever saw of our daughter - 2 months old, 6 pounds

February 28 may be our Referralversary (haha love that, don't you?)....but I am celebrating BOTH my kids today and the wonderful journey God brought us on to both of them.  My heart is so thankful I have those two crazy kids to call my own.

Photo Credit: Mike Fiechtner Photography

This February we are also in a waiting season.  While I won't compare it to anything like finding out you are becoming a parent (get it out of your head because that is not happening right now)...we are waiting for God to reveal to what is next for our family and discern what His dreams and desires are for our lives.  Somedays are easier than others, but as I reflect on God's perfect timing the last two times in my life...it makes it a lot easier to trust His perfect plan this time around too!