THIS BROKEN BEAUTY.

When these women have sat in the passenger seat of our car,

When they've been to our house and held Trey,

When they've cried and laughed with my mom,

When I can hear the murmur of the voices through the conference call my mom is having with her and her chosen adoptive family,

When I photograph the moments of two families coming together, forever,

When I hold their babies for 24 hours and love them before they go home forever, and I point out their similarities and how their noses are the same,

When I hear the news that she signed her rights away and prepare this sweet new babe for his new forever life,

When I kiss their baby's forehead for the last time,

When I get to sit at the same table as these women and their chosen adoptive parents,

And laugh,

And cry,

And watch them say goodbye (the dreadful, dreadful goodbye),

I realize,

I am living a life where I touch Jesus' love tangibly.

I am living a life where I can laugh and look into the eyes of both of the women who love the same baby, just a different way.

It gives me shivers.  It puts butterflies in my stomach.

We are so very very very loved by Jesus Christ.  When we make the worst possible choices and drive our lives in the worst direction.  There are second chances.  He always, always, always makes the broken road into the beautiful one.  That is one of the most confident thoughts in my mind about our Lord.

I am so extraordinarily blessed that He would choose for me to see this broken beauty unfold before my eyes, day after day after day.