The first time I met you, you were asleep. It was naptime and all the infants at Hannah’s Hope Ethiopia were swaddled all cozy in their Moses baskets in the common area. Except you. You were too big. So there you were in that miniature crib on the end, sleeping all soundly. I knelt down next to you and touched your face. And I marvelled at those impossibly long eyelashes.

Should I wake you up? I longed to hold you. But I do not believe in waking sleeping babies unless you are saving them from an emergency like a fire or tornado.

So I waited, trying to soak in the moment. (Which was smart because it was the last time you would sleep that soundly for about two years. *wink*) Then I heard it. Here in this place where I was so far from my world… where everything felt so unfamiliar… I heard these familiar words playing softly on a nearby radio.

Every blessing you pour out, I’ll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord, still I’m gonna say
‘Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.’
You give and take away… You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say… ‘Lord, blessed be your name.’

This song, of all songs! This, I knew, was His gift to me. This very song… that was on our lips and in our hearts through every step of your adoption process. When we wanted to worry but sang instead. When we wanted to fear the unknown but worshipped instead. When things we held so dear seemed surely to be lost… and by His grace alone, we learned how to praise His name in the storm.

It was one of two moments that week that I felt God’s presence in a way that I simply cannot explain in words.

Then because Daddy and I could wait no longer, I picked you up and held you close. Slowly, those big brown eyes opened… wider… and wider… and wider. And for about six months or so, that was your signature ‘look’. Eyes, wide as saucers, taking in the world around you, all the while clinging tightly to Daddy and me. And, us clinging, too… clinging so tightly to Abba Father. (Eyes mostly drooping from lack of sleep and delirium.)

As I sit here today in this quiet place and remember these things I have ‘treasured in my heart’, truly all I can think to say is this… Blessed be your name, Jesus.

________________________________________

I am a recipient of amazing grace. I’ve been married 11 years to my husband, Scott. We had 2 children, Isaac and Zoe. Then one day God met us both in the same moment and broke our hearts and filled them with love for orphan children. In 2008, we brought our son Beniam, now 3, home from Ethiopia. We are currently in the process to adopt a little girl named Mei from China. I am a Florida girl who loves sunshine, water, and sand. I enjoy almost anything you can do outdoors, especially in the mountains. When forced to stay inside, I love to read and write.