In the mail...

I know this is kind of backwards since I haven't blogged about the birthday yet (pics are coming), but today was a big day.  Today we sent Benjamin's birth mom her update.  We wrote a letter, 2 pages of how much we love him.  No holding back this time.  With each update we sent (1 a month for the first 6 months), I felt like we were reporting his height and weight and telling her thank you for choosing us.  We kind of left out the parts we thought too painful.  With this update, we told her everything.  How he is the EASIEST baby on the face of the earth.  He is a great eater and an even better sleeper.  He is beautiful, so beautiful he gets noticed everywhere we go.  I have to kiss him every time I pick him up.  It is almost a reflex.  I cry nearly everyday when I sit with him during playtime and realize how empty my arms and heart would have been without him.  We told her how Andrew and Annabelle love their sweet brother.  A smothering kind of love only siblings can give.  We told her how he was named for my precious daddy and that I often tear up when I state his whole name.  We told her he is kind of a peanut, but that is God's gift to me as I prayed for a tiny baby for years before we knew about Benjamin.  We told her every little detail, not withholding because we thought it might be too painful for her to know the intimate details of the baby she gave to us.  Also included in the box was a hard bound photo book with a zillion photos of his first year.  Finally, we sent all of his bio siblings a small teddy bear.  Benjamin has one in his room (so do the big kids), and we wanted them to have something to remember him by.
We would love your prayers for this sweet family in the next few weeks as they get the box.  Pray, as we have been, that their hearts would receive the gifts with tenderness, not with hurt and sadness.  Pray that this year finds them in a better place than last year did.  Pray that Benjamin's birth mom would be more and more convinced with each sentence she reads and each picture she sees, that she made the right choice.  Pray that God would give all 6 members of that family a peace about the decision that was made.  Pray that they would come to see (if they haven't already) adoption as the miracle it is, orchestrated by God's hand.