No we are not crazy

My husband and I learned this week that we’re going to have another baby!  I know we sound crazy.  The twins birth mother is pregnant and would like us to adopt the baby.  We discussed and prayed, and pondered all week and we know this baby is supposed to be in our family.  We are thrilled.  I always wanted a large family but didn't think it would be possible for us.  Not sure when baby's coming exactly but probably 6 or 7 months if all goes well.  The twins will be not quite 2.  I will have some good stories to tell.  

So I’ve been thinking a lot about motherhood this week.  Today I was listening to a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” (by Adele, really great!) and the lyrics describe how I feel about my children really well. I suspect many mothers would feel the same.  There is something there that especially speaks to the journey adoptive parents take.

"Make You Feel My Love"

When the rain is blowin' in your face

And the whole world is on your case

I could offer you a warm embrace

To make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear

And there is no one there to dry your tears

I could hold you for a million years

To make you feel my love.

I know you haven't made your mind up yet

But I would never do you wrong

I've known it from the moment that we met

No doubt in my mind where you belong.

I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue

I'd go crawlin' down the avenue

No, there's nothin' that I wouldn't do

To make you feel my love.

Though storms are raging on the rollin' sea

And on the highway of regrets

Though winds of change are throwing wild and free

You ain't seen nothin' like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true

Nothing that I wouldn't do

Go to the ends of the Earth for you

To make you feel my love.

It also reminds me of a passage from The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, which I recently read.  One of the main characters, Dickon, a 12-year-old boy, befriends two motherless 10-year-old cousins, Colin and Mary.  Dickon’s mother, Susan Sowerby, is the archetypal loving, gentle, understanding mother.  Colin finally meets her one day and when it’s time to say goodbye he

“stood quite close to Susan and fixed his eyes on her with a kind of bewildered adoration and he suddenly caught hold of the fold of her blue cloak and held it fast. 

‘You were just what I—what I wanted,’ he said.  ‘I wish you were my mother—as well as Dickon’s!’

“All at once Susan Sowerby bent down and drew him with her warm arms close against the bosom under the blue cloak—as if he had been Dickon’s brother.  The quick mist swept over her eyes.

‘Eh! Dear lad!’ she said.  ‘Thy own mother’s in this ‘ere very garden, I do believe.  She couldna’ keep out of it.’”

I can’t read that passage without choking up.  I’d love and mother all the motherless children in the world if it were possible.  My husband is afraid I might try.

Thanks Juli, for helping me connect all these dots.