Last year, for the first time, I openly wept in public during the Mother's Day festivities at church. Our pastor had done a beautiful job of including all women, but the first mention of those who wanted to be mothers, I lost it. I wanted it so bad it hurt. I had been patient for years, okay with it for so long but I couldn't handle it last year. We left through a side door to avoid the concerned hugs and questions and went home where we watched a comedy, I ate a lot of chocolate, and took a nap while clinging to my German Shepherd and sniffling into his neck.
This year was much different. I woke up early to make some waffle batter for my best friend and her family who had been visiting. I listened as her two beautiful children talked to each other in quiet voices in the bedroom. Then I filled my car with brightly colored totes, socks, waters, towels and chairs.
Instead of crying during church, I listened to the sermon and smiled at every little kid at church and their parents. As I played bass in the worship team, I took notice of the mommies holding their little ones.
We didn't have time for our Sunday afternoon movie, because we were setting up for a race. The Two Feet Duathlon. A 2 mile run and 6 mile bike ride. Based on the baby announcements that say couples are adding "two feet" to their homes, we took the idea and ran with it. Racers got socks with baby feet on them, a reusable tote, and as many baked goods as they might want.
The only tears I shed this Mother's Day was at the start of the race. I had a speech all planned, but the wind was so cold I decided to shorten it. "Thank you for coming..." I look at all of these people, about to run in the freezing cold, these people who all paid above what was required to run the race, some of them not at all athletic but doing it for us anyway. "... I didn't want to cry... but really, Thank You..."
Jim took over, seeing my dilemma, to give race instructions. Then I yelled "go" and they were off.
The race itself went better than we were originally anticipating on Sunday morning. The snow had stopped, but it was still only 40 degrees and the wind was brutal. We had a few no-shows, but 23 of 32 showed up. Like most races, we had the leader, a female who dominated the course in 45 minutes. We had the walkers and the stragglers. My favorite moment of the race was when one of my students came walking to the start with her bike, the back tire obviously bent. Instead of giving up, she jumped on her younger sisters bike and finished the race, even though it meant coming in last place.
The day was full of highlights. Bob, my boss, had a brilliant idea of pulling up his trailer for a race headquarters, so people wouldn't freeze and we wouldn't have to have stuff out in the wind. He led the runners on his bike and then stuck at a corner to direct bike traffic. My Pastors entire family stood at street corners directing racers. Two other church members did the same. Four lovely ladies made baked goods for our racers, including Janean's famous cinnamon rolls, which got us more donations because people bought some of the leftovers to take home.
Our race sponsor, Sheila from Thrivent Financial, provided T-Shirts for everyone as well. The motto of the company is "Live Generously" which was the front of this shirt. I want to wear this shirt every day, frame the motto on my wall and put it in my prayer journal. What an amazing message.
And everyone that came yesterday lives generously. Every single one.
We raised over $1000 total yesterday that went straight to our adoption fund account this morning. Even the teller at our bank misted up over it.
The generosity of others, this race, and our budgeting I can officially say that, if the tax credit is really what it says it is, we will adopt debt free. We will actually maybe be able to "up" our budget a little, meaning we will be shown to more birth mothers who are in more financially difficult situations, which means we might become parents sooner.
We started this journey the day before Thanksgiving in 2014. We learned the expense and didn't know how we could manage it. And now, 6 months later, we will adopt debt free, meaning we can start our family without that financial burden. We can start our child's college fund the minute they are home.
We are so humbled and so amazed at the generosity of others and the love we have received from this community. I hope our children grow to understand this generosity and that they learn from having these wonderful people in their lives.
Thank you to everyone who prayed, participated, baked and volunteered. You are all rock stars.
