When I first met Meaghan, I was visiting Mississippi State University on an interview for a faculty position. She was a bright student just months away from graduating from Miss State and was heading to University of Alabama to pursue a master's degree. I remember that her professors could not say enough good things about her and her future. I could have never imagined just how God would cross our paths again nearly 10 years later.
Our mutual friend, Kelli, wanted to host a Noonday Collection adoption fundraiser for Meaghan's family as they were working so hard to bring Max home from Ethiopia. We partnered together (with Meaghan's mom hosting at her beautiful home) for an such a fun night -- and we raised nearly $1,000 to help with sweet Max's adoption expenses thanks to the amazing support of the Gordon's family and friends. Who would have guessed there would be several more shows to not only help with Max's expenses, but also to help bring home his baby sister, Mamie, who joined their precious family August 1!
Check out this sweet video the Gordon's church featured on their family's adoption story, and then dive into Meaghan's beautiful reflections on the story God is writing for their little family!
IN HER OWN WORDS....
My husband Wes and I have been married 10
years this month, and I can promise you that way back in 2005 as we were
dreaming and planning of what our lives would look like in 2015, neither of us
could have guessed that a decade later we would have four children born on
three different continents. But, here we are, and we wouldn’t change a thing!
Two biological kiddos, one born in Ethiopia,
and one born in China -- still hard for me to believe that I am blessed to be mom
to Mary Reeves, Murphy, Max and Mamie. Adoption is a beautiful, tragic,
wonderful, messy, redemptive thing. No matter how they joined our family, our
kiddos are so loved and cherished. We pray that the Lord will guide us as we
parent our transracial family through added layers of race and culture, loss
and gain, and questions that we may never be able to answer. He knit our family
together in such a unique way, and we wait expectantly for how He might use our
stories to further His kingdom.
We have come through the waiting stage
twice…yes, it is hard for families who wait, but oh how much harder for the
precious kids who spend their days and nights in orphanages. We have celebrated
kissing two of our babies for the first time after many sleepless nights,
mountains of paperwork, thousands of prayers, tens of thousands of dollars, and
stamps in our passports following flights across the ocean. We have felt the
elation of landing at our tiny, local airport to introduce the newest Gordon to
a host of family and friends.
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| Photo by Hayden More Photography The Gordon Family August 1, 2015 |
We are now knee deep in cocooning with our
littlest (that’s adoption speak for keeping our world small as we transition
our precious daughter into our family, language, culture, etc.) We have a whole
lifetime of parenting our children ahead of us. We are so thankful for the many
little lives we’ve been entrusted with, yet we will forever mourn the missed
minutes and milestones with our youngest pair. Their first mothers chose to
give life to these miracles, and we will honor them always.
I know now that adoption has so many more
layers than I knew about when we filled out our first application in 2011. I
LOVE adoption…how it has grown my family and how it has grown me as a person. I
love the community and the relationships we have made thanks to adoption. I
love supporting adoptive families, and I love companies such as Noonday that
provide financial assistance because that can be a huge barrier for many
prospective families. We were blessed by the generosity shown our family through several adoption trunk shows held for us over the
past several years. Purchasing through these shows helps both the adoptive
family and the artisans’ families in vulnerable communities, basically a means
of family preservation.
As we approach #WorldAdoptionDay, I remember
the birth families, the nannies, the prayer warriors and listening ears, the
stylish Noonday wearers, the agency staffs and orphanage directors, the
generous family and friends, the casserole deliverers, the medical teams, the
church, and everyone else who has played a part in our story. Most of all, I
celebrate the precious little boy and little girl who don’t share my DNA but
who call me Mommy today. May I live up to that title through the Lord’s leading
and encourage others who are walking the same path to parenthood.
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I love the common thread that God is weaving in each of these adoption stories! He loves us, y'all! Like real deal, fights hard for us in dark places, LOVES US! Adoption is such a beautiful pictures of that love - and of His patience with us when we're resistant or unreachable. He waits for us to realize it and then lets us climb right up in His lap and be lavished with it...when we're ready.
Want to read more about the Gordon's journey? Head over to their blog and read more!
Stay tuned, friends! There's more amazingness coming in just a few days!
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