Another momentous day

I looked at the calendar today and realized it was another one of those momentous days, as described in detail in my book Unexpected Tears. The day Colombia officially said no and closed our case. I will never forget that day, the weight of sadness that it carried, or the emptiness that followed it.

And in my foolish thinking, I wondered if our paths might ever cross again.

Here I sit today, November 20th, seven years later, staring at yet another picture in my e-mail of a beautiful teenage girl who just sent a picture of herself to her brother, Juan David, my son. She resembles Juan David in some ways, but her smile reminds me so much of Julian's beautiful smile.

In August of last year, as I sat outside on my back porch praying for my boys, for Julian, and for her, I begged God to bring her back into Juan's life somehow, or to at least just give us a picture of her.

That same day, someone posted on a Facebook group about how to go about requesting your child's complete file from Colombia, with the name and e-mail address of the person to contact, along with a sample letter of what to write and include. I'd heard of people finding more information about sibling adoptions in their files, so I crossed my fingers and sent my e-mail request for his file that very day.

I didn't hear back immediately, but when I did, I read these words: Do you just want your child's file, or do you want to attempt to find biological family, too?

Immediately I connected the dots, seeing this as a direct answer to my prayer out on my back porch that day in August. This was going to be our way to find his sister again.

A few months later, we received his file, but they gave no guarantee about when or if his sister's family would respond to our request for them to be in communication again. After nearly a year of waiting, we both gave up hoping that we'd ever hear anything. We'd wait a few years and then attempt to find her some other way.

Then much to our surprise, a picture and a letter arrived in my e-mail inbox, and communication is now slowly taking shape between them. I am absolutely thrilled for them, and for Julian, too, who will soon join this communication loop.

Their communication won't always go through my e-mail, but I'm so thankful that God chose for it to start this way, almost as a gift to me, especially on these last few momentous days. Makes me remember and relive so much. She's so much more than Juan David's long lost sister.

I am obviously not involved in their new communication, nor should I be. I was not the mother God chose for her. God just used me to love her while she didn't have one. But what a priviliege it is to be fully present now, watching God write this chapter of their story, bringing them back together. It is a gift, one I could not be more thankful for this week at Thanksgiving.