The Jones Journey: The Long Wait

This is a guest post written by a dear friend and I'm beyond excited to share it with you!!! Patty has walked her own journey that includes raising a daughter brought to her family by adoption. I see in her a woman that is joyful, absent of bitterness, full of love, and servant hearted. A woman I am honored to know and blessed to call friend. If you are walking the road to, or through adoption you MUST read this (and you will want to click on the link below- I promise!) If not, but you know someone who is adopting this is beautifully communicated and will help you understand what those who walk this road experience. Enjoy!

By Patricia

There is a special kind of pregnancy. The interminable time of being in the waiting womb of adoption.

Instead of the baby being in the dark, you are. No certain due date to look forward to, just the fear of getting the nursery ready in hopes of avoiding yet another disapointment. The finish line steadily being moved as you approach it. No certain milestone to celebrate. For an international adoption, just throw in an extra ten or twenty thousand bucks, an ocean, and even more red tape and you get the picture.

Long days become months and even years and your life seems at a standstill. Your empty arms becoming full are contingent on the choices of other people.

Red tape, government workers, unknown identities. Girls not ready to be mommys, yet not able to let go. You know that your future child could be hungry and languishing in an orphanage somewhere, and here you sit, swallowed up in luxurious misery, unable to feed him or her.

For Burt and I, it was a preterm birth, miscarriage after miscarriage, and then came Hannah Jean. Our Long Wait was finally over. Can I just say that The Wait made us better parents? The ache to be mom and dad helped the inconveniences to be joys instead. We are so grateful. That was 22 years ago and Hannah Jean has just had a baby of her own. That makes me a grandma. Really?

First meeting at 2 weeks old

If you are waiting, know that the season WILL come to an end. Though you may now be drowning in the seemingly endless world of everyone else's diaper bags, looking from the outside in, just know that your arms will be holding the very one God has for you.

May He grant you courage as you hope, patience as you wait, and grace one day to be the best parent you can be. Part of your Narrow Road will be forgiving those whose eyes hold pity, whose brains don't comprehend, and whose lips utter words that amplify their lack of understanding.

He sees and He knows. He has not forgotten you.