Late Night Thoughts

It is late at night, when the household is quiet and I can catch up with e-mails and friends in the online world. In this day and age, friendship is sometimes found in unexpected places and I have found many special friends through online adoption support groups. Though we do not all share the same backgrounds or even the same faith, we do share the common values of the sanctity of life and the love of family. Many times, our talk revolves around the mundane activities of our children and homes (although, those who have passed through the heartache of infertility to hold their children in their arms often find even the mundane to hold special significance!)

But then there are those moments when the opportunity arises to share God's truth in simple ways and trust He will bring fruit from it. Perhaps most often there are opportunities to simply shine His love in the midst of the pain that others are experiencing, whether through a failed adoption, health struggles, or even - as our adoption group discovered this Christmas - the loss of a beloved spouse.

Please pray for Lori, who unexpectedly lost her husband of 13 years at the age of 43. They adopted their first and only child, a son, at the same time we adopted Owen early last year (after experiencing a heartbreaking failed adoption around the same time we experienced our failed adoption with Caleb in 2004.) Please pray that Lori and baby John will know God's peace and through this tragedy, will ultimately know God Himself. Recently, Lori penned these words, an important reminder:

I am glad that we had the type of relationship where we expressed often to each other our feelings. No last words were necessary, I knew how he felt about John and I, and he knew the same about us ... For those of you that are married or have a partner in love, hold them close.