Pumpkins, Ponies and Miracles

Today was a good day. We had our monthly "family day." We try to have these AT LEAST once a month. This is a day set aside to spend with our family without any interruptions doing something that the entire family will enjoy and making memories that will last a lifetime. We went to Yahoo Farms for our annual trip to ride ponies, pet goats and find some pumpkins. We first went here when Aiden was 2. Now he is 4. This was Ethan's first time.Time is flying by. Dear Time, Would you please slow down??? I dont want my babies to grow up this quickly!

This day was special, though. You see last year when we went our family was in a very different place. After 2 and a half years of trying to add to our family (through adoption), a couple of failed adoption matches, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of questioning God, we had decided that this would be our last week in that journey. We just had no strength left and didn't want to spend the rest of Aiden's childhood putting our life "on hold" while we waited for a baby that might not ever come. I was sad. I remember watching Aiden (as a 3 year old) riding the pony and thinking to myself (and to God) how I SO wanted to give him a sibling.

Aiden @ 3 years old petting the pony (2011)

 How I didn't understand why it came so easily to most people (especially those who didn't really even want children). I was accepting of God's will for us even though I had pretty much come to the conclusion that God only had Aiden planned for our family. I accepted it but I was sad. I remember thinking how much I would love to share things like this (pony rides) with another child or children. How I had SO much more love in my heart to give to another baby. But I decided THAT DAY that I wasn't going to "miss" Aiden's pony rides because I was too busy wishing for moments with another child that didn't even exist.  It was a lesson God wanted me to learn. It only took me 2 and a half years! ;)
But.........as only GOD can do..........he kept that memory alive in my heart for a few more days.......you see, just 7 days later, we received "that" call. The one that said a baby has been born in Florida and needed parents. He is little (4 pounds) but seems healthy and would just require a NICU stay for a little while. Did we want to be "presented" to his birthmom??? That led to us being shown to her.......and in her words, after having looked at hundreds of couples, she knew IMMEDIATELY that we were her choice. God loves to "show up" when we have just about lost our faith. As big as my smile was, God's was SO much bigger! He is SO SO GOOD.
So today, 11 months and 2 weeks later, my "Ethie Bug" is asleep in his bed just down the hall from "Buddy Bo" after a long day of pony rides, hay rides, pumpkins and family time. This year we were a family of 4!!!! GOD is SO GOOD!