Two of my friends are going through the process of adoption. That’s like telling you two of my friends are going through an interminably long labor. And no one knows for sure how much longer it will last. 

The little part of the road I’ve walked with them has been eye opening, just hearing their hearts and requests for prayer at our Friday morning Bible study. Prayers for patience, hope, strength, that papers will go through, that the foster children who are coming to stay will feel at home, that the foster baby who went to live with her grandmother instead of her will be loved, that she will love the child/ren that will be hers like she loves her own, that . . . 

Twenty-three years ago I was pregnant with our first son. We’d moved into a new neighborhood not long before, and I was a little worried . . that I wouldn’t have support, friends, and anyone to give me a baby shower for the very first time. But God knew and sent Kathleen, Sue, and a few others I can’t remember now by name, but I can see their faces. They were my friends, they gave me a baby shower, and they welcomed me home from the hospital with balloons, a banner, and lots of love.

At the time Kathleen and Jerry had a little girl named Audrey. She was a year and a half old, and she and my Josh became fast friends when he got a little older. Before we moved away, Kathleen had her second child, a girl. 

Fast forward a few years, and Kathleen had a boy. We had four more children. And Kathleen and Jerry had four more too. All at once. From Poland. In February of 2000, Kathleen and Jerry adopted. 

Kathleen is a special woman. I already knew that. She was a wonderful friend to me in the early years of family life, but she’s unique too. She’s unique because she has lived through the labor I spoke of, the beautiful birth of her over-night enlarged family, the overwhelm, the struggles, the joy. She is a wealth of experience to any mom but especially the one who is planning to or has adopted. In a recent post, Kathleen states, “None of my children ARE adopted. Some of them were adopted. Now they are my children.”