Rise Up and Call Them Blessed

Posted by Traci at 7:00 AM

Picture this.  Two young parents are about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.  A journey called adoption.  Already blessed with a beautiful baby boy (who’s harrowing arrival into this world came with a previous journey of a lifetime), they desperately wanted to grow their family even more.  So with a heart full of hopes the young mom begins the mountain of paperwork and bright red tape required to bring home baby #2.  Countless months and long distance calls later they are finally on their way to the airport, nervous but excited, with admonitions from nannies and papas and brother and cousins and the like to hurry home with the newest family member.  It must have seemed like there was nothing in the world but a bright future with their son and new Salvadorian baby.  Then they heard this on the car radio:  “El Salvador has entered a state of siege.  U.S. citizens should exit the country”.  When they got to the airport, there was a message waiting for them sharing the same grim news. But they got on the plane anyway.

I can’t imagine how my mom and dad must have felt.  And in truth I've never really contemplated it.  I just took for granted that they came to get eczema covered, sickly, 9-pound, four month old me, waiting there in the orphanage.  But embarking on this adoption journey of my own has made me consider many things.  One of those is the bravery of my parents.  I thank God for them.  I know my mom thinks it’s courageous of us to adopt a deaf child, and it may be.  But if I’ve done anything brave in my life, it is only because that was the first lesson my parents ever taught me.  I love you Mom and Dad.