God says YES.

If you need a reminder of God's faithfulness today, look no further. I've got a great God story for you. This post is a long one, but it's worth the read - I promise. Plus, there's a super-adorable slideshow at the end. Anyway, here's the story.

In June of 2009, I met a woman named Yvonne at Halle/Niva Grace's adoption ceremony. Yvonne was there with her little boy, Wynton, who had spent the first few weeks of his life in pre-adopt foster care with Halle's mom. It was there that someone gave Yvonne a link to this blog, and she decided to visit (to see pictures of the beautiful Halle, of course!). She left a nice comment for me (oh, look, here it is). I replied. The end.

Or not. It was over a year later before I "met" Yvonne again. My family was in the middle of the greatest trial we've ever faced. You remember. It was October 2010, and my mom was a month out from what many medical professionals describe as the worst surgery ever. She was starting chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. One day, out of the blue, my friend Claire sent me an email about Yvonne. Claire had been the case worker for Yvonne's son Wynton (as well as several of our foster babies). She told me a little bit about Yvonne and her husband Petrick's story...they'd suffered the loss of multiple biological children...they'd experienced several failed adoptions...their newest baby girl Lauren had recently lived and died in my NICU. Claire also told me that Yvonne was still reading my blog, and that the way I'd written about our family's trials had been helpful to Yvonne as she faced the premature birth and loss of her daughter. She also shared with me a link to Yvonne's blog, which I promptly visited.

I went to Yvonne's blog and read about the children she'd loved, most of whom she'd lost...her sons Peter and Peyton who were born too early at 15 and 16 weeks...several babies that she and Petrick had planned to adopt but whose birth mothers ultimately decided to parent them...her little boy Wynton who was the best Christmas present she ever received...and finally, her daughter Lauren Victoria who was also born too soon at 23 weeks. Yvonne spent a month in the hospital before delivering Lauren, and Lauren spent four days in the NICU before going to be with Jesus. I was off work taking care of my mom during this time, so unfortunately I never knew Lauren.

You know how you sometimes feel like you know a person after reading their blog? Well, after reading Yvonne's blog and knowing that she'd been reading mine, that's how I felt. I felt like I knew her, and, as strange as it may sound, I wished I could've been there to be her daughter's nurse. I watched videos of Lauren and listened to the voices of my co-workers as they cared for her, and I wished I could've been the one caring for her. I looked at her pictures, and I wished I had been the one taking them (because you know how I feel about babies and pictures, right?). I wish I could've stamped her tiny footprints on pink paper, and I wished I could've placed her in her mama's arms for the first time. 

I ended up emailing Yvonne, just to share those thoughts with her, tell her I was praying for her, and tell her how precious her baby girl was. She told me that she knew I worked in the NICU and that she had hoped I'd be taking care of Lauren, too. She also told me that she'd been praying for my mom (and has since shared with me that, while she was on bedrest last year, she checked my blog daily for Tricia updates) and that my faith throughout Mom's cancer journey had really ministered to her in her pain. And then she said these words, "Even after Lauren died, I still knew that someway, somehow God was going to make things better. I'm still waiting, but I know he is going to do it."

If I didn't have this exchange saved in my inbox, I probably wouldn't believe it happened. I never could've imagined where God would take mine and Yvonne's relationship next.

My mom spent most of her winter months cooped up in the house, so weak and sick that she rarely left her recliner. By springtime, she was starting to feel more like herself again and was still cancer-free! And then summer brought something (or someone) that we never thought we'd have at our house again...a foster baby. Keeping foster babies was something my mom so missed doing while she was sick and something she prayed she would one day be able to do again. Little Patricia was an answer to prayer for our family. Her presence in our home meant things were normal again (or at least as "normal" as things ever are at our house). Trish and I took turns doing all the mom things with Little P...bathing, feeding, getting up with her at night, etc. And everyone else enjoyed loving on her when she wasn't crying, spitting, or pooping. 😉 Mom had a special bond with Little P. Possibly because they shared the same name, but probably because Little P was a such a beautiful reminder of God's faithfulness to our family.

We prayed often that God would provide just the right family to raise Little P. We tried to guess who that family might be and dreamed about who we wished it could be. But God surprised us with a better idea than any of us could've dreamed up on our own.

You see, a year ago, I emailed Yvonne and told her I wished I could've taken care of her baby girl. As it turns out, nine months later, I did. I wished I could've taken her pictures and made her footprints. Nine months later, I did. I wished I could've placed her in her mama's arms for the first time. Nine months later, I did. A year ago, Yvonne was grieving her firstborn daughter. She was also praying for healing for a woman she didn't even know. Nine months later, that same woman was caring for the baby who would become Yvonne's second daughter. 

On August 8, Mom placed Little P, now named Madison Grace, into the arms of Yvonne, her mama forever.

I don't think there has ever been a big brother so in love with his little sister!

So many prayers were prayed in each of these situations...prayers by Yvonne for my mom, prayers by Yvonne and Petrick for God to "make things better", prayers by me for Yvonne and Petrick, prayers by my family for baby Madison. And God, in all of His glorious genius, heard these cries for help, threw them all together, and said YES. He has the best ideas.



So the moral of the story is...read my blog and pray for my family today, and in a couple years, we might give you a baby.

(Just kidding. Maybe.)