A wonderful story
This letter came today from a friend from our Chattanooga days. I remember holding Elsa's newborn Carissa and beaming over God's goodness to them eighteen years ago. What a blessing is this story:
Dear Ones,
We have such happy, wonderful news. A few weeks ago we got a call from our Adoption Agency, Bethany Christian Services. They asked if we were planning to attend their annual fund raising banquet. We said, "Probably not." They told us they were planning to ask our daughter, Carissa's, birthmother, Tonya, to share her story at the banquet this year and wondered if we'd like to come! We said we'd love to be there but only if Tonya knew who we were and that we were there. (We didn't want her to feel like we had spied on her.) They went on to explain that Tonya is a vibrant Christian now, as is her husband, and that she'd recently spoken to a birthmothers' support group and mentioned she hoped to see Carissa again someday. We asked if it would be possible for them to meet each other and for our whole family to attend the banquet...
The Lord's timing is amazingly perfect. Leland and I met Tonya on May 5th. We fell in love with her right away. She is an absolute sweetheart. I handed her Carissa's Senior photo and she laughed and cried for 2 or 3 minutes straight exclaiming over and over, "She's so beautiful, she's so beautiful"..and then we cracked up when she said, "She gets that from me!" True! I'd made Tonya a scrapbook with Carissa's prom pictures, family photos, photos of our doggies, a list of Carissa's favorites, etc. We visited for 3 hours. Afterwards Leland told me it was the happiest day of his life. Carissa met Tonya on May 9th, the day before her 18th birthday! She cried big, wet tears of joy, healing tears. She and Tonya are so much alike and clicked just like we knew they would. Tonya had made Carissa a scrapbook, (The same scrapbook I'd actually put in my cart to buy for Carissa but then put back when I found too many other treasures for her birthday!) Tonya included photos of Carissa's birthfather, Patrick (so of course now I'm kidding Carissa about being Irish) and her three sons. (Carissa's father also has 2 sons, so Carissa has 5 half-brothers and she's the only girl.) She also wrote a lovely letter which she read aloud to Carissa and us, telling of her adoption plan and her love for Carissa. The day after Carissa's birthday was Sunday, May 11th, Tonya and her husband and her mother (Carissa's grandmother) all came to our church for Mother's Day! How wonderful it was to have Carissa sit between her two mothers! Tonya held her hand during the service and I kept praising God for how He is making us whole. Carissa is a different person. She is so happy and has been more affectionate to us than ever before. I'm sure this has given her some missing pieces and helped her find peace. Tonight, May 16th, is the banquet. Tomorrow Carissa graduates from high school. Tonya and her husband and her mother (Carissa's grandmother) will all come to the graduation, too!!! Three weeks ago we didn't know God had any of this in store for us. It's a comfort and joy to know He has things "up His sleeve" that we never imagine.
Much love,
Elsa
Dear Ones,
We have such happy, wonderful news. A few weeks ago we got a call from our Adoption Agency, Bethany Christian Services. They asked if we were planning to attend their annual fund raising banquet. We said, "Probably not." They told us they were planning to ask our daughter, Carissa's, birthmother, Tonya, to share her story at the banquet this year and wondered if we'd like to come! We said we'd love to be there but only if Tonya knew who we were and that we were there. (We didn't want her to feel like we had spied on her.) They went on to explain that Tonya is a vibrant Christian now, as is her husband, and that she'd recently spoken to a birthmothers' support group and mentioned she hoped to see Carissa again someday. We asked if it would be possible for them to meet each other and for our whole family to attend the banquet...
The Lord's timing is amazingly perfect. Leland and I met Tonya on May 5th. We fell in love with her right away. She is an absolute sweetheart. I handed her Carissa's Senior photo and she laughed and cried for 2 or 3 minutes straight exclaiming over and over, "She's so beautiful, she's so beautiful"..and then we cracked up when she said, "She gets that from me!" True! I'd made Tonya a scrapbook with Carissa's prom pictures, family photos, photos of our doggies, a list of Carissa's favorites, etc. We visited for 3 hours. Afterwards Leland told me it was the happiest day of his life. Carissa met Tonya on May 9th, the day before her 18th birthday! She cried big, wet tears of joy, healing tears. She and Tonya are so much alike and clicked just like we knew they would. Tonya had made Carissa a scrapbook, (The same scrapbook I'd actually put in my cart to buy for Carissa but then put back when I found too many other treasures for her birthday!) Tonya included photos of Carissa's birthfather, Patrick (so of course now I'm kidding Carissa about being Irish) and her three sons. (Carissa's father also has 2 sons, so Carissa has 5 half-brothers and she's the only girl.) She also wrote a lovely letter which she read aloud to Carissa and us, telling of her adoption plan and her love for Carissa. The day after Carissa's birthday was Sunday, May 11th, Tonya and her husband and her mother (Carissa's grandmother) all came to our church for Mother's Day! How wonderful it was to have Carissa sit between her two mothers! Tonya held her hand during the service and I kept praising God for how He is making us whole. Carissa is a different person. She is so happy and has been more affectionate to us than ever before. I'm sure this has given her some missing pieces and helped her find peace. Tonight, May 16th, is the banquet. Tomorrow Carissa graduates from high school. Tonya and her husband and her mother (Carissa's grandmother) will all come to the graduation, too!!! Three weeks ago we didn't know God had any of this in store for us. It's a comfort and joy to know He has things "up His sleeve" that we never imagine.
Much love,
Elsa
posted by Compleat Mom at 1:54 PM
2 Comments:
Praise God for all he has done in all there lives, maybe one day my boys will have that blessing as well.
We were so glad to read your posting. Jason and I are just putting in our paperwork to Bethany, and it was encouraging for us to read this adoption story.
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