Resurrection and Letting Go

Recently, a church friend sent me an email supporting our family during this difficult time we've been walking through. She said:

"I have been praying for you and your family. You have had the Lent beyond all Lents--peace and courage in these final days. I pray you all know the joy of Resurrection soon."


This friend is right. For these last long months, our family has been in a season of Lent... a desert of diffulty, chaos, and sadness. After years of trying to do our best for our children, my husband & I came to the enormously difficult decision to move our son Eli out of our home. We accepted that in order to provide what he needs and also meet the needs of our other children, we must let him go. This does not mean we do not love Eli... we love Eli so much that we are willing to do the hard thing. And we have considered the search for his family to be a Divine Purpose, one we have approached with the greatest sense of care.

I do not find it to be a coincidence that we met Eli's new family on Good Friday. This is the day that we as Christians remember the death of Jesus. While none of us is dying, we are certainly dying to the hopes and dreams we had for our family. I also see God's Hand in what occured on Easter Sunday, when the family said 'yes' to bringing Eli into their home. Not only were we celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, but we were giving thanks that God had made a way for Eli to have this New Beginning!

...And now, we are preparing to move Eli to his new home this week. These are, as my friend stated, the 'final days.' I am comforted in knowing that we have been exactly what God needed us to be for Eli, and our days with him have been the exact number that God intended.

As I sat among some of Eli's belongings packing for his new beginning, I wrote a letter to his new Mom, and here is part of what the letter says:

"From the first moment I saw the face of my son Eli, I knew in my heart God meant him for me, and me for him. I literally had a physical reaction to his photo. My breath caught, and I felt an almost pain in my chest. I felt compelled toward him, and in a short time God had given me a Mother’s Heart for him.

And so, from my Mother’s Heart to Yours…

If Eli ever asks…

Please tell him that I love him. I loved him from the very start and I never stopped. I wanted a good and healthy life for him, and I tried everything I could to provide that for him. I never expected or wanted my time with him to be temporary. My love for Eli brought me from Michigan all the way to Ethiopia just to bring him home. My love for him also brought me to a place where I knew I would have to let him go.

We are now joined together by this child, for we are his Mother. What was started with me I pray will be brought to completion with you."

To those of you who have loved us through this long and difficult season of Lent, to say thank you does not seem enough. But I do thank you. Please stay with us as we walk these 'final days' and pray us through the journey. May we all, most especially Eli, know the joy of Resurrection. Amen.