6.30.2012

Motherhood - First Thoughts

I became a mother by the wonderful world of adoption.  The adoption process itself is a journey of faith and trusting in God and not in what little I know.  (Proverbs 3:5)  Before we even had our son I learned the lesson that our adoption pursuit is not about me!  What may have started as a desire to be a parent through the means of adoption gradually evolved into a new perspective on life as a whole.  We are not here on earth to pleasure ourselves.  Although we have been given a life on this earth to enjoy, we are here to bring glory to God by how we live our lives.  My husband and I now have adopted our son out of a desire to provide for God's children.  (Hebrews 13:1-6)  A benefit of this pursuit is the joy that my husband and I have experienced with the gift of parenthood!  Our son is a delight to us!  I tend to be a more logical thinker than an emotional one, but I wanted to share something important that I am learning.  I thought that I would be a good parent if I read all the books, etc. and learned how to best care for my son and how to guide him toward Christ.  However, one thing that I hadn't given much thought to was joy!  My husband is a goofy person and will do most anything, if he thinks it will be funny.  He is very good at making our son laugh.  One of my husbands favorite photos from our adoption trip to Colombia is of me at the mall taking a photo with our son and one of the tv chipmunk characters.  It is his favorite because it is something he knows I would never be seen doing - and it is now only because I am a mom that I am willing to do something so silly.  These moments are important and laughter in the home is a very key ingredient for a great family!  I Corinthians 13 is all about love and it is very loving to bring joy and laughter into your home!!
One thing I was surprised by was how easy it was to selflessly give of myself to this child - that I desired to give of myself to our son.....day after day!  My husband and I had experience nearly 8 years of living life doing what we wanted and now need to set aside some of those things for the sake of our son's best interest.
I have also now come to realize that I have entered a phase of my life where I am in the humble position of "mom."  A phase of being "Logan's mom" and at times our schedule will revolve around Logan and phone calls to our home will be for Logan, I will play chauffeur to Logan, etc.  I accept this position with gladness!
Being a parent does not come easy and is not without great responsibility.  I am grounded by the verse Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my rock and my redeemer."  Only by God's grace and through regular prayer do I have hope that I can be this example to my son!
Jumping back to adoption, it is a long and patience requiring wait, filled with more paperwork than you would think and for us many bumps in the road.......but in a heartbeat, I would wholeheartedly do it all over again.  The privilege of loving a child is immeasurable and so very very worth it!