May Baby

I just saw the movie "October Baby." A girl finds out she's adopted and goes on a journey to find out who she is. It's a story of forgiveness. It's a story of life. It's a story of broken dreams and shattered realities turned into beautiful miracles of God's abundant love and grace. I don't want to blow it, but at the end she turns to her dad and says "Thank you for wanting me."

Before I held Elijah in my arms, I began to pray for him. All I knew was a little 4 lb 11 oz baby boy had entered the world prematurely on May 9, 2008, and his birthmother had not only chosen life, she had chosen adoption. She named him Riley and soon we'd travel to Ohio where she would place him in our arms. She may have made some poor choices before that point, but the only choice that mattered at that moment was this 15 year old birthmother was going to make me a mother.

On May 31, 2008, at 3 weeks old and just over 5 lbs, Elijah Riley became a forever part of our hearts and our family. He is my May baby.

Elijah will always know he's adopted. It's been infiltrated into his vocabulary since he was an infant. But I'm preparing for the day when he'll ask questions. Even now, news of his birthmother having another baby that she's now parenting and Elijah having a 'half-sister' brings up questions of my own. I don't know how I'll answer things like why she placed him for adoption but parented her daughter. I don't know what I'll say when he asks about his birthfather, whom we know nothing about. I come up short responding to doctors who ask about the genetic history of illnesses and diseases and allergies. So the best I can do is share this with him the day he asks...

You need to hear your Creator's words: 

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of hte earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16

I'm preparing myself even now for what I will say to you - how I will explain. All I know to say is this:

Elijah, He knit you together in Sara's womb.
He created you to be a masterpiece - but also a miracle.
When He formed you, He knew full well you were being created to bless our family - 
to bless lives with the story of His own faithfulness.
We praise Him because you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
His works ARE wonderful - and YOU, Elijah Riley, are a wondeful miraculous work He has made.
You were not hidden from Him even as He formed you - 
your tiny hands and feet, your sweet little mouth and little button nose.
Each and every part of you He fashioned together knowing full-well, He would place your in our lives.
His eyes saw your unformed body as He created His masterpiece.
He knew - before you even took your first breath - the plan He had for each and every day of your life.
He knew that just 22 days after you entered this world, you would be placed in our arms.
You, my son, were not created by us but for us - and for Him...for His glory.


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