Thank you.

November is National Adoption Month.  On the first week of the month, I need to give thanks to all the people who helped us get our children here.  In a long line of people who have taken our money, there have only be a handful who have touched our spirit.

Shelia placed all of our boys (so far) with us.  She led us to adopt after our failed Guatemalan placement ended in heart ache.  She's the one who started it all.  She absolutely REFUSED to give up when I called and told her God might not be leading us to be parents.  She prayed with us over the phone.  It felt like she was patting me on the back and holding my hand the whole way through.  She's the one who started the family of children that will soon number 7.  I wonder how she feels about that.

Lois is one of the only international adoption professionals that I've ever met who doesn't give a hoot about anything other than her kids in Ghana.  She doesn't take a salary, she doesn't care about recognition, she just loves her kids.  All the kids at Luckyhill are like her own, and she's fiercely protective of them.  She advocates for their health and well-being in a way that reminded me of how I advocate for my patients.  Nothing stops me.  Nothing stops Lois.  I knew after talking to her the first time, over a year ago, that we would work well together.  I had NO clue that I would make such a great friend in the process.

Kingsley and his wife Gloria run Luckyhill.  They live SUCH a humble life.  They often don't know how they are going to provide clothes and food for the kids that are living with them, then another child will show up at the door.   I watch and wonder what they will say.  No need to wonder, it's always the same...God will provide.  I thought I knew what faith was, then I met Kingsley and he taught me what it means to always trust in God.  God is good, He is always good.

Where would I be had God not brought these people into my life?  I wouldn't have my children.  How do you thank the people who gave you the most important thing in your life, the thing that defines you?  How do you thank the people that made you a mom?  The answer is you can't, words will always be inadequate.

--FullPlateMom,
who will hug her children today in honor of the people who worked so hard to bring them here.