She ties the headband around the baby's black curls and asks me to photograph her for "Momma-Julie", who had mailed the accessory for the little one. I hold up my phone and call Ali and make kissy sounds to get her to look and smile. Alicia and I laugh at how she's distracted enough to keep the headband on this time. Since Julie lives several hours away, I text the photo so she can be a part of our breakfast fun. This is encouraged by adoptive mom, Alicia and once again, I marvel.
Learning from a brand new momma might seem unlikely when you're a mother to four, one of them approaching fifteen and a half years old. But, here I am taking mental notes as I gaze upon the gracious loveliness of Alicia. You see, this woman who welcomed "our" Julie's baby into her home has little fear. She believes that the openness of their adoption will only benefit her baby girl and so she throws her arms wide and receives Birth Mom with all her heart. I am the recipient of this glorious exchange of love between all three and it's a gift I praise God for each time I witness it. Of course, there's a great adoptive dad who teases and jokes with Julie and loves on their child, but I spend more time with the woman who mothers this toddling, chubby Alexandria with the sweet grin and laid back disposition.
Julie drives to Canada and we head over to her daughter's home and hang out with the family. She's beginning to venture out more and more on her own and claim these people as part of her own. She knows how blessed she is to have such a fabulous couple to raise her girl. They also realize they've got a pretty great match with Jules as birth mom. Now, they're exchanging stories of pregnancy as Alicia miraculously is expecting after seven years of infertility. Praise God! Ali will have a sibling soon and Julie is thrilled.
As fun-loving, gift-giving, proud Momma-Julie shares this part of her life with a family who adores Ali, she experiences the power of God's idea of adoption through their love. And I, awe-filled and teachable, thank the Lord He chose these two women and that I could be in close enough proximity to it all.
