I got to see my gorgeous niece a couple weeks ago and she arrived with a fun idea and plenty of supplies: We would make "Loop Bracelets", which are all the rage in the 5th grade, and sell them for the adoption. I admit I got really into this project and together we made 36 bracelets that weekend. It was a lot of fun. We will be selling them for $2.00 each. They are made with small circular bands similar to silly bands:
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It's been almost a month since our basketball tournament so I decided I better post a few pictures and give an update! It was a fun day. We had 8 teams play in our mini basketball tournament. We were able to use our church gymnasium, provide referees, and have free cookies and water bottles for all players :) Everyone seemed to have a great time and I, for one, really enjoyed watching everyone play hard!! Thank you to everyone who participated, helped out the day of, made cookies, and kept score. We made $480 toward the adoption!
A new mini tradition we have many mornings is "Bible Time". I sometimes set a timer if the boys are more chatty than normal. Though there are a lot of interruptions with a 2 and 4 year old, that's OK. It's even good and it's been a fun time. I love hearing Alex say, "Bible book. Bible book!" while Mateo mimics me and says, "I wonder what God is gonna teach me." At the end of our bible time (usually barely long enough for me to read a few verses and my Jesus Calling Devotional)...I let Mateo pick out one of his stories or devotions he was "reading" from his preschool bibles. Today he picked the story of Moses. It was a simple story that I've heard countless times...but today I heard it differently and it affected me more than I expected. It was a story of adoption. I tell ya...even though I don't have the pregnancy hormones, I am still kind of crazy at times as I think adoption also increases some motherly hormones, lol. Maybe God's way of preparing me. If you don't know the story of Moses, you can read it in Exodus 1 and 2. I was taken aback at the picture of Moses' mother. There was sadness in her eyes. Despair. And most of all LOVE. Although it may seem ridiculous to put your baby in a basket and float him down the river....I think she she did it out of love. I can only imagine what a pregnancy and birth would be like knowing that if you had a boy- he would be killed! Yet that was the time. She hid him for three months but could hide him no longer. She wanted life for her baby. She wanted safety. If she kept him, he would be killed. As I think of Moses' mother making that decision to "give away" her baby for his own good, I think of the birth mothers that are pregnant and probably scared. Looking through family profile books and contemplating the choices that they have. As the picture above shows, there is both mourning and joy in an adoption. You can see the joy and excitement on the princess' face as she welcomes a new baby into her family, but I also see the sadness in the birth mom's face as she makes an incredibly difficult decision.
I think that birth moms who choose adoption for their baby are very brave and very courageous. If you know anything about pregnancy, you know that it's no piece of cake. It's hard...especially if you're a single woman without the support of a husband. Choosing life for your unborn baby in a culture that tells you to "get rid of it" takes a lot of courage. Today I'm praying for those birth moms who know that they can't raise their babies but love them so much that they are willing to choose life anyways. I pray for their courage. I pray for support for them as they walk through their pregnancy. That they would have people to walk alongside them. I pray for their futures. And we wait. And wait. And trust that God is the master designer of our family. |
AuthorWe (Aaron and Gaby Harada) live in Oregon with our two young sons: Mateo and Alex (5 and 2 1/2) We've had adoption on their hearts for a few years now 15 months in to a domestic adoption here in the U.S. It has been a huge leap of faith and an adventure. We're thankful to share some of the journey with you and are truly grateful for your support and prayers along the way! Archives
July 2014
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