We have a baby sister!

We have a baby sister!
Joshua & Aaron hold Abby the first time.

Abigail Helena Tsegay Wright

Abigail Helena Tsegay Wright

Friday, June 11, 2010

It Takes A Village

It is Friday night and we just got back from home group. I am sitting here thinking what an amazing group of people we have to call our friends. Everyone was genuinely interested in the latest news and asking questions about when we would get to meet Abigail and hold her for the first time. After a devotion specifically selected with us in mind, our dear friends gathered around us to offer prayers for a safe journey. I smiled as I listened to them pray that Abigail would influence kings and princes and walk in corridors of power all as a woman of God. I have prayed many prayers for her, but it was soothing to listen to these prayers. I thought as I stood in the middle of that circle how very blessed we are to have so much love and encouragement. We are not alone in this adoption journey. Abigail has already impacted so many lives and she has yet to say her first word or take her first step. Her birth was not meticulously planned and celebrated. Yet a continent away, we have been anxiously waiting for news of her existence and tracking every step in the process that will lead us to her. We have not been alone with this anxiety. We have been surrounded by extraordinary people who have listened to our frustrations, shared our setbacks and rejoiced in our good news. Our friends formed a physical hedge around us and I listened to a man pray with an eloquent (and very proper British accent). I listened to his beautiful wife whisper prayers of agreement. I could hear our Cajun friends, the boisterous petitions of our friends who came from out West, and the unmistakable twang of our friends from back home. Others stood around us silently, but they were showing solidarity and I could feel their support. In the background I heard the laughter and happy chatter of our children as they played oblivious to our prayers. It was a little glimpse of heaven. This must be what it will be like to listen to the saints praising with their different dialects and accents. It was perfect harmony and like so many times before it was a balm for my soul. As we welcome this little one into our home we also welcome her into our little community. These people will touch her life and help shape her. They will hold her in the nursery and teach her in Sunday School. They will minister to her when she needs someone other than mom and dad to affirm her. Maybe not exactly these same people, but people just like them in the family of God. As parents, Shawn and I have the primary responsibility to raise Abigail in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but He did not mean for us to walk alone.

Lord, thank you for the village that will help us raise Joshua & Aaron & Abigail!

You all know who you are and we love you so very much. I cannot find the words.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

It's Official

After two long, frustrating days of waiting we finally got the news Thursday 6/3/2010that Abigail is officially our daughter. Wow! What a feeling! Not unlike when the boys were born, I felt a sudden burden of responsibility and anxiousness. This precious little life will be completely dependant on me and Shawn and that is somewhat overwhelming. When she is hungry she will cry for us to feed her. When she is sick she will expect us to make it better. When her heart is broken she will look at us with those big, brown, amazing eyes and expect us to have the answers. Now I can say no matter if your child grew first in your belly or in your heart that overwhelming feeling of "God, can I do this? Help me do this!" is EXACTLY the same!

Holding her in our arms for the very first time is the next milestone in this journey. I have to admit that I am a little anxious about that first meeting. I can't wait, but I am nervous. In my dreams it is perfect. She looks at us with a contented, milky smile and she recognizes us. Then I wake up and realize that she is almost 6 months old and her life has been a pretty tough one so far. The truth is that she will prefer to be comforted by a caregiver in the foster care home rather than by a mom she has never met. We have been praying and wondering about her for several months...gazing at her photograph for several weeks. She won't recognize us at all. We are strangers to her and she will be uncomfortable with us at first. It makes me sad to think about it like that, but we are prepared to spend a lifetime getting to know her!

Joshua and Aaron are so excited! Joshua has been on almost every shopping trip and helped to select every article of clothing. Aaron, not so much with the shopping! He is more concerned about just getting her home, and called me every day at work this week at least twice asking if I had heard about the court date. Abigail is already so very loved.

Shawn has been pacing himself...I have been so "nutso" as he calls it that he is trying to keep a steady pace. Funny, it is eerily similar to right before when the boys were born when I was frantic to make sure everything was perfect. I distinctly remember getting angry with him because he didn't seem to be frantic enough! While I am busy obsessing over what we need in the diaper bag and what we will do if they lose our luggage he refuses to budge and puts one foot very deliberately in front of the other. The only time I have really seen him waver was this week when the agency kept putting us off about whether we passed court. Daddy was just mad those days and I knew enough to be quiet! At one point he said he was going to drive to Texas and sit in that office until they gave him the answer! Abigail is already so very loved.

You know, thinking back to when the boys were born and we brought them home. It was not perfect. They screamed for 24 hours because my breasts malfunctioned and we were forced to buy formula. They turned the prettiest shade of brown and I cried and begged until a home health nurse brought us bili lights on Christmas Eve. Four weeks later Aaron turned blue and was admitted through the emergency room for RSV. Shawn dropped little Joshy on the hospital floor that very night because we were so tired and sleep deprived. But, I remember it as being perfect. They were home and they were safe and they were ours.

Abigail, we can't wait to bring you home and make crazy memories. It will be your story, baby girl, written by God's own hand.

It will be perfect.