My 13-year-old son had a band concert the other night. He has been playing percussion for the last
two years and has come a long way. I
didn’t find out about the concert until the night before, at which time I told
my parents and my in-laws.
I fully expected them to have something else that they had
to do, since this was so last minute. To
my surprise, both sets of grandparents drove across town to see their
grandson’s six-minute concert band performance.
We are thankful for the parents we have, but our kids truly
hit the jackpot with these grandparents.
They take them on special play dates, have them over to spend the night,
and let them pretty much go nuts. They
love to share the stories from their childhood, and our kids soak it up.
Rewind a few years, and I did not dream that this tight of a
bond would develop. You see, these same
parents cautioned us about adoption, specifically concerning adopting older
kids. They really wanted us to have
babies, probably because everybody just loves babies.
Those days seem a million years ago now. When I see my kids
run to greet their grandparents, I know that this is family. I think it probably even surprises the
grandparents how much they can love these kids.
I mean, they are not biologically related to them, they came to the
family half-grown, and look nothing like the family. It’s a special heartwarming moment when I see
hearts that had a bit of (understandable) trepidation toward adoption embrace
those very same kids.
Adoption is truly a beautiful gift of God and I am so
thankful for it. It provides me with
glimpses of the amazing heart of our Heavenly Father. He sees us looking so unlike Him, but
nonetheless He seeks us out and draws us in.
He loves us and over time, if we allow it and abide in Him, we begin to
look more like Him than we could have ever imagined. Everyone is afraid of becoming like their
parents. I hope and pray that I am able
to demonstrate love and treasure my grandkids half as well as my parents and
in-laws have.
