I believe we’ve adopted an angel.

Yes, I know we’re probably still in the honeymoon period, but Lily is such a sweet baby girl and I’m delighting in her person — in discovering every little detail of who she is and watching her personality unfold. Her sense of humor is as irresistible as her antics are endearing. She is so lovable and yet spunky and mischievous enough that you know she’s real. I’m enraptured — completely in love — and thrilled to find myself mothering a toddler again.

The end of July marked one year from the time Whitney and I first saw a photo of our precious Baby Love and considered God might be calling us to adoption. July 27th marked the anniversary of the first time we saw the sweet image that would haunt our very souls till the moment we could hold her in our arms and bring her home.

The events of this last year have wrought so much happiness. I never dreamed adoption could bring such joy or that it would change my life so wonderfully. Basking in our little Love’s presence today, I can hardly recognize where the past shifts into the present.

Steven Curtis Chapman’s song, When Love Takes You In, expresses this perfectly:

And like the rain that falls into the sea,
In a moment what has been is lost
in what will be…

And even though it seems the lyrics are talking about a family who takes in an orphan out of love, I feel as though I’m the one who’s been taken in by love. I’ve pondered this in my heart over and over. I’m not sure which “moment” it happened. When did the has been become the what will be?

When did love take us in?

Was it when we first saw her picture on rainbowkids.com?

Was it in August, when we admitted to each other we couldn’t think of anything else and we decided to call the agency and ask for her?

Maybe it was in November when, after 3 long months, Korea granted the age waiver. (We were about 2 years older than Korea’s upper age limit and this was one happy moment for us.)

It might have been when we opened her file in early December and watched on a series of DVD clips, through tears of pure joy, our Baby Love…

laughing,
crying,
growing,
being who she is…

Such a day of confirmation for us.

If not then, surely it was when we saw her first birthday pictures right after Christmas. She was dressed in a traditional Korean hanbok, looking like a Korean princess, and oh, how we longed for her.

The defining moment may have occurred 2 days after Mother’s Day on our first visit with little Sarang at the foster family’s home in Seoul. This was the first time we held her cheek to cheek, touched the velvety smoothness of her baby-soft skin and breathed in the sweet fragrance of her delicious baby scent.

It was truly a defining moment when we carried her out of the Korean adoption agency and headed back to the hotel with her in our arms. That was when the caseworker said, “She’s your child now.” And though our hearts wanted to sing, little Baby Love’s heart was breaking for those she was leaving behind. She was filled with fear for what lay ahead.

I remember choking on my own tears and asking Whitney if she would ever smile again…

Oh, but does she smile… By God’s grace, our Baby Love smiles often and finds joy in so many things. Her attachment is sure and sweet and increasing every day. (Please, Lord, let it be so.)
I am relishing every moment. And though she doesn’t yet love us as much as we love her — in time she will. She must.

For now, it’s enough for her to know we are crazy about her.

We’re three months into this incredible love story — not long,
but long enough to know…
it ends well.

Feeling blessed and in love and grateful for every experience that continues to shape our family.

Hold. That. Thought.