I Heard the Heartbeat

This weekend we were so blessed to get to attend The Adoptive Parent Weekend Classes. This is a 2 day class to prepare Adoptive Parents for what all aspects of their adoption process could look like. This is step 1 in the process. I tweeted on the way up to the class that I was so excited and felt like I did right before the doctors appointment when I knew I would get to hear the heartbeat when I was pregnant with Abbey.

I had done a ton of research over the last few months, I read blogs almost daily on adoption and real life adoption stories. But nothing could have really prepared me for what I experienced.

After one of our breaks the teacher announced, "And now we will hear from 2 birthmothers that chose to place their children for adoption." I listened as 2 women told a story I knew I would never have the courage to tell if the roles had been reversed. I listened as they shared how they found out they were pregnant, how they came to their decision, how they chose their families.

But when they talked about their hospital stay it was almost more than I could handle. They told how they delivered their child, held her in their arms, cried endlessly, and then how they signed papers and left the hospital alone. Both women cried as they told their stories which were barely 6 months old. They clutched the books containing "their families." They shared how they wanted so much more for their child then they knew they could give them. They wanted their children to grow up in a 2 parent households. It was with the greatest love I have ever had the privilege to be in the midst of that they decided to give their children the greatest gift. Not just life, but a good life.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? That He would come to give us life, abundant life.

In ministry I have told that story 1000 times. Think how much your Heavenly father loves you? That he would give the most precious thing he has, his only Son, so that you could have life and have it to the fullest.

This weekend I saw the love of the Heavenly Father in the most tangible way. I saw someone do the most unselfish thing, the most loving thing they possibly could. I saw someone love like God loves.

I can tell you with all assurety, these are NOT unwanted children. They are not products of selfish mothers that want to just do their own thing. These children are loved with a greater love then most of us can comprehend.

As I sit here and think about a woman that will give us the greatest gift there is I feel an urgency to pray for her. I don't know her and she doesn't know me but one day we will be forever connected by a love that I'm not even sure I fully understand at this point.

But I know this...A birthmothers love for her child looks like God's love for us.

And that is the most beautiful heartbeat I have ever heard.