Three Beautiful Years

A week ago, we celebrated three years of Kai being part of our family. He has now lived more life with us than he has apart from us. This is a day we have always looked forward to. What a gift to be able to live life with him. Yet the further we get from his life before us, the more sacred I realize it is. His birth parents and birth family, his foster mom, his nannies, nurses, doctors, surgeons and caregivers. I treasure these souls and the love they gave. They valued his life. They cared for him. They saved his life and gave him a future.

Kai's family did not begin the day he was placed in our arms. Kai has a transcendent and beautiful family that spans the world and a Heavenly Father who has cared for Him deeply all along the way. The trauma Kai lived through is so real. This past week has held lots of questions, nights of grief and uncontrollable sobs. His expression of grief has changed over the years, but it still surfaces at times. We do our best to meet him in his grief, answer his questions and be near when he can't put words to his sadness. I hope that he always knows how we treasure him, how we honor his parents and family before us and how humbled we are to be his parents for the rest of our days.

Adoption is beautiful and sacred and precious. Adoption exists only because of loss and trauma. Yet this is the place is where healing and beauty can rise from unspeakably hard places.