Monday morning at 7:30 the birth mother of our sweet Jordan will be interviewed bythe US Embassy in Haiti. Jordan will be there too. This is part of the process and necessary to move the adoption process to the next step.
Two years ago this month, Jordan's mother decided that she could no longer care for her baby boy. She made the ultimate sacrifice of love and brought her 18 month old son to a créche where she knew he would be fed, loved, cared for and adopted by a family who could provide for her son in a way that she could not and, perhaps, would never be able to. In order to take care of her son, she had to give him away.
In June, she gave up her son again. She attended Haitian court and gave her verbal and written legal agreement to give Jordan up for adoption. Don and I met her just a few short hours after she did this. Meeting Jordan's mother wasn't easy...not for her, not for me, not for Don. We could see the emotion and pain surging in her eyes and watched as she gestured to keep the tears at bay. I could not imagine what she was giving up...how could she do it? Only because of her tremendous love for her baby boy and what was best for him.
A third painful surrender for this brave mother will happen again on Monday...only she will be seeing her baby again, gazing at the one that she is relinquishing her legal rights to claim. How will she do this? I don't know, but I do know that she is strong, and that her love for Jordan is great enough to give him up so that he can thrive.
While she gives up the physical presence of her son and turns his care over to Don and me, she does not give up the great love that she has for him, and the choice that she has made comes out of that deep well of love within her heart.
Haitian men and women are strong. They have been cut from a "cloth" of strength that I cannot fathom. Theirs is a culture of survival, and often in such circumstances, the only way to ensure the survival of the one that you love, is to give him or her away.
My Father did the same for me. He gave up His only son so that I could survive...me, you, all of us. Why? Because there was no other way. Not one of us could bear the weight of sin, struggle, heartache and pain thrust upon us in this broken world...not without His Love, not without His sacrifice. Such a Love as this is beyond compare, beyond understanding.
In a similar vein, Jordan's mother is giving him up so that he can survive. I am humbled by her selflessness. I am overwhelmed by the blessing to stand in the gap for Jordan's biological mother...to love our little boy with all of my heart, to care for his every need when she could not.
Please pray for Jordan's biological mother...on Monday, on any day that she comes to mind...remember her and ask God to give her continued strength. Pray for Jordan on Monday as he sees his mother. I don't know if he will remember her, but it will be an emotional time for both mother and son.
The business of a "birth parent" interview is not easy. The emotion of it can be excruciating. It is, however, part of the process, and must take place so the next step can happen.
"Yes, God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him would not be lost but would have eternal life." John 3:16
