Ironic

My husband works for a very large snack food (chip) company.  I have been to three company sponsored family events where food has been served...but not one chip was at any of these events.  Ironic, huh?

Speaking of ironic...we have entered the temper tantrum twos.  Whenever I'm in the middle of something, Mitchell will ask me for something, and my response is usually, "sure, but give me a minute."  His response...usually wailing, crying, screaming, etc.  I then have to tell him, "Mama didn't say no, I just said not right now.  Please let me finish (fill in the blank) and I will get (fill in the blank) for you."  The other day, after repeatedly making that statement, I thought, this is probably the way I sounded when we were going through our infertility struggle.  My whining, complaining and asking why must have sounded like a two year-old's temper tantrum to God.  I'm sure his response was, "Jeanna, I didn't say no, I said not right now."  Light bulb!  I've heard it said that having children gives you a clearer picture of your relationship with the Lord.  Yes, yes it does.

We had the privilege to share our story with a group of potential adoptive families last night.  Our adoption agency (Bethany Christian Services) has recently opened an office in Springfield, and even more recently has had enough growth to put on a "Discover Bethany" event in town.  It gives families an overview of their services and the adoption process.  A way for families to get their feet wet and see if adoption is something they want to pursue.  We were asked if we would be willing to come and share our story with the group, so they could hear first hand from a family who has been through the process.  It was an amazing experience.  I have always said that I would share our story with whoever asked.  Besides, it is really God's story, he just chose us to be the leading characters in this particular story.  After the event was over, a woman approached me and told me she had been dealing with infertility testing and treatment and her and her husband had just recently decided to move on and pursue adoption.  In that moment, I saw a reflection of myself from about 3 years ago.  So much hurt, fear and hope for the future all bundled into one emotional package.  I did my best to reassure her that she was about to embark on an amazing journey and someday she would look back and realize it was all apart of God's plan.

On a side note, our church is starting a Family Life series in September.  We have been asked to take a picture of our family with the Family Life sign, post the picture to the church's Facebook page, and then give the sign as an invitation to attend the series to another family.  We knew we wanted our picture to have some sort of tie to adoption in it.  So Gus suggested we take our picture with a Bethany Christian Services sign at the event last night.  So here is our Family Life photo: