Maisy's Adoption Day

Lord willing, we will finalize Maisy's adoption tomorrow. All the kids will be there and we will celebrate this very special time together as a family. I am without words to describe the emotion that comes with this day.
Maisy was an innocent little baby born to parents who were in the depths of their drug addiction. A baby born addicted to heroine, cocaine and other substances. At only 3 pounds, with holes in her heart, and poor lungs, she fought for her life from the moment she was conceived. It is a miracle that she survived to delivery. It was clear that this little girl was meant to be born into this world..she has had a divine purpose for the very start. I counted the other day how many diagnoses she has....33 different diagnoses to describe all the medical issues she has. 33 different life threatening struggles she has faced in her two years of life.
And then there are her birth parents. Both are fighting to maintain their sobriety. Her Biological mother is living in a halfway house after completing rehab. Her biological father is committed to maintaining his sobriety and working hard to build a future for himself. Both parents have been very positive about Maisy's adoption and have expressed gratitude to us for adopting their daughter. These parents tug at my heart on so many levels. Both parents take responsibility for their actions regarding Maisy. They are not blaming the system or anyone else. And that is the first step in recovery...
We are so thankful that adoption for us means something so much more than adopting a child. We consider it a great privelege to bring into our family not just the child but their birth family as well. They hold her past in a way that we do not...we, along with our Lord, hold her future. They must live with the understanding that she has suffered because of their actions. That takes an incredible amount of courage to face that reality with a sober mind. I have to think that Maisy may have inherited that incredible spirit of survival and I am hopeful that they will draw upon that same sense to get through the challenges they will face along their way in life. We are so thankful that we have the opportunity to pray for them, encourage them and love them as our children.

But for tomorrow, we focus on this incredible little girl who will be our daughter forever. I just want to pinch myself because I can't believe she will be ours. I honestly can't imagine life without her. She has brought us so much joy. What if we had decided that we were too old or too tired to take adopt another child? What if we had ignored God's nudging and decided that loving a girl so fragile was too risky? What if we had listened to the world who thinks we already have "too many" children? What if we worried about our retirement?!
God has called us to such an incredible life. He is really, really amazing. We are thankful that the Lord has used his precious little Maisy to change the world for Himself. We have already seen Him working through Maisy's story and impacting those who are touched by her. We praise and thank Him for blessing us with our precious Maisy Grace Martindale...