Today is Deacon’s “gotcha day”. Six years adopted. He spent 521 days in foster care. And then, by the gift of God, we got to call him ours forever.

We didn’t know that “forever” would only be another 5 and a half years on earth. That my role as his second mom would be over so soon.

To be done with court dates, social workers, different last names, unknown futures, broken down foster care systems….it was like a glorious deep breath of spring air after a dark, stale winter.

It’s tempting to just be sad. But getting to be Deacon’s mom (I still can’t believe that I got picked for that!) means that I owe him more than my sadness. It means that I get to be the things I loved most about Deacon.

I loved that he was:

• Brave
• Confident
• A doer
• Funny
• Fearless
• Adventurous
• Able
• Friendly
• Kind
• Outgoing
• Generous

It’s a lot to try to live up to. He made it look so easy.

Tonight, we’ll have the cupcakes to celebrate and talk about Deacon. I’ll love him with one foot in eternity and love my other children with one foot in time. And I’ll thank God every minute of every day that I was the one chosen to be his mom. He was chosen for us and we were chosen for him.

“Few people in this world meet someone who so intricately and radically changes their lives simply by entering it. Few people have their lives split into such a powerful before and after. And while it may be so easy to look at our before and afters through the lens of deep pain and sorrow, you have been given a sacred gift: to know a love so pure, so raw, that it extends across world, through time, and death cannot even touch it.

You’ve been given a sacred gift, a second chance, an invitation to never be the same from this point forward simply because they existed, you were chosen to be theirs, and you are tied together, eternally, your love a force greater than life itself.” Lexi Behrndt

Still so in awe that he chose us. ❤️