Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Ode to friendship

Last night I met my friend L.B. at an establishment which shall remain nameless, to which I have 17 gift cards.  We meet every six or eight weeks for coffee to discuss, fast-and-furious, all things adoption (and anything else we have time to fit in). 

I met L.B. at the local library's preschool story time.  It was my first experience with meeting a stranger at a random location (other than church) and actually extending that acquaintance into a bona fide, beyond-these-walls friendship.  When I met L.B. she was in the process of adopting a little boy from Ethiopia; her son has now been home for over a year.  I can't quite remember how long we'd been thinking/praying/researching adoption, but I know we hadn't even decided on a country or an agency yet. 
L.B. with her new son at the Holt picnic

We would visit at L.B.'s apartment while our children played, her son's referral photo blown up to 8x10 and hanging on the wall, and I would pick her brain and heart.  I remember getting teary-eyed several times as we talked, the passion in my own heart kindled, sometimes to what felt like an unbearable degree.  Several months after L.B. and her husband traveled to Ethiopia to adopt their son, we applied (finally!) with Holt to adopt from China. 

We don't see each other nearly as often these days, partly (mostly?) because we have six young children between us...soon to be eight children!  We will go to China soon to adopt our new son, and L.B.'s husband will travel to Korea to adopt their new boy, who is a mere twelve days older than Jiushu. 

I'm incredibly thankful that God allowed us to meet when we did.  As much as I've benefited from and enjoyed the online adoption forums, He also knew that I would need a friend IN REAL LIFE to process this adoption (and home schooling, and parenting, and faith, etc.) journey with. 

I wonder if we'll be able to fit in one more coffee date before two Asian sweetie-pies join our ranks? 

1 comment:

GeonHui's Bakery said...

So thankful for our friendship!! I had actually forgot that we met at the library, seems like we've known each other longer! We'll have to figure out how to squeeze in coffee (I'm sure we'll both be needing it)!