On the third day Jesus rose, and on our third day, some new life was breathed into our situation.

The night before, while eating at Chili’s, we received a call from the pregnancy counselor. We scheduled a meeting at Chic-fil-a for 10:30, following her meeting with birth parents.

I was planning to sleep as late as I possibly could (I really do love sleeping) and then head to the meeting. I was half asleep, still trying to wake up when Ben came out of the shower and told me there was mold in the bathroom and we were finding a new place to stay. I was not a happy camper, because not only did I have to wake up and get ready, but I also had to pack everything up and move it to a new location. I’m sure that Ben’s version of this will be more dramatic. Read it for yourself.

While I showered and got ready, Ben found us a new place to stay, just down the road. We packed up the car, drove to the new place, checked in and went to the room. It smelled like cigarette smoke. I had already unpacked the groceries when Ben came up and told me we were relocating to a smoke-free room. Repack. Move stuff. Repeat. The theme of my morning.

We finally settled in, at a much nicer hotel I might add, and then went to meet the counselor.

We arrive at Chic-fil-a and sit down with Erin, the pregnancy counselor. She filled us in on her meeting with birth family. She told us that the birth parents wanted to meet us. She told us that birth grandma had been raving about us.

The birth parents originally didn’t want to meet us, so this news was a surprise but we were elated! I think it’s really important for Brynlee that we have a relationship with them. We got to hold Bryn for about 2 minutes between the two of us, and then we went in to meet birth parents for the first time. We knew a lot about them from birth grandparents and had seen pictures, so we had a little bit of knowledge of each other. Meeting them was not at all what I expected. They were so young and innocent. They are the ages of my youth students. What surprised me most was how comfortable I was with them. I really felt like we knew each other for a long time. They were shy and anxious. Mom was practically digging her nails into the hospital bed. Ben and I kept being our goofy selves to lighten the mood. My heart broke for them that night, and again I was filled with gratitude. What a selfless, loving mom and dad to place their daughter with another family. It is hard to process all of the emotions we are dealing with, so forgive me if I’m not that eloquent.

There was also a meet and greet for 3 hours that we were invited to be a part of. The birth grandparents invited those people from the church who have been on this journey with them to come and meet Brynlee and meet us. I believe it was important for us to meet those people, and for them to meet us. As we sat in that waiting area, watching so many people hold our girl, feed her, changer her diaper, and talk to her about how much she is loved and has been prayed for, I was once again in awe of our great God who divinely orchestrated every part of this adoption.

Brynlee was wearing a white onesie and it simply said LOVED in grey. That pretty much sums up this journey. Every moment, every person involved took the advice of Bethany Christian Services and asked themselves, “What’s best for baby?” Granted, there have been many decisions that were hard, uncomfortable, frustrating, and emotional. But know that all these things were “best for baby,” we all pressed on.

In our everyday lives, we can translate “What’s best for baby?” into “How would Jesus respond?” The less we focus on our own needs and lean into taking care of others, the more we become like Jesus.

What are you facing in your life? How would Jesus respond?

Love,
Brooke