Deciding to adopt part ér

ér (pronounced are) is two in mandarin Chinese.
I love spring!  I love coming from dreary I can't survive one more day freeze your tail off  10 below zero temperatures to the new hope of spring. The sun starts peaking his head out of the clouds. The air is a little warmer. The birds are back to wake me in the mourning. The first little buds start poking their darling little heads out of the ground and the whole world seems A brighter, greener, happier place.

Spring is New Life. I love to walk around my garden and see the new flowers that were not there the summer before. Some seeds or bulbs I have planted, but some (like the pansies) have planted themselves or maybe God planted them. HE is the ultimate gardener!

Sometimes, seeds are planted and completely forgotten by us humans.  They still exist. They are waiting for a little sunshine or a little water to have a chance to grow.

The seed planted in my heart when I was a little girl may have been forgotten. It may have even gone unnoticed for years. Every once in a while, a little nourishment would help it to grow and I would remember that it was still there.

Around the time I was 9, my sweet Mom brought up the idea of my parents adopting. "Yes, Mom please do." I would beg. My brothers were almost in high school and I would have loved a young sibling. The idea was short lived and I was very disappointed. I remember thinking maybe I will be the one to adopt someday.
A little rain for my seed.

Then when I was around 14, one of my young women leaders adopted a baby boy. She had been infertile and It was a miracle to me to see the sweet baby in her arms.
A little sunshine for my seed.

Then when I was 16, a wonderful family in our church set out to adopt a little girl from China. It took them two years and, I'm sure, a lot of stress and prayers to bring this little girl home. They had been matched with her when she was a baby and she was two when they got the little girl home. I remember being very curious about her. She was itty bitty and absolutely darling! The mom bore her testimony to us about how God had helped them. How, even though they couldn't speak Chinese, she knew the Chinese officials felt the spirit.
A lot of sunshine and happy rain for my seed.

When I was dating my husband Shane, I asked him if we could adopt someday. Could we? Even if we had children of are own? "Yes," was his answer. Yay! Such a sweetheart. Although, I think he would have promised me the world back then. Ha... Young Love... Love that man!

My seed was now a tiny little sprout buried deep under the soil but still there.

We married. We decided to have a baby. We had our beautiful boy, Questen.

I watched Oprah. I watched about the Dying Rooms in China. I watched how little African American babies were adopted for less money because they were Not white. I cried! A LOT!
My sprout grew a bit more.
 How could we ever adopt? We were only 21 and 22 and house poor with a new baby? I cried more and pushed it to the back of my mind. It was depressing. Who wants to think about all the sad things in the world?
The sprout got pushed back down.

Years went by... We had this little Angel, Violet.

And this one, Lillian (Lilli)

Our life was full!
The seed had completely been forgotten...