I Wouldn't Have it Any Other Way

Yesterday after work, T and I went to visit my sister and our niece. It was time for a bottle, so I suggested that T give her one. T had never fed a child before. Although T comes from a huge family, most of them live in Egypt, while T was born and raised in Minneapolis. He was the youngest sibling in his family, so he wasn't around children that were younger than him.

I felt so much joy watching T give our niece her first bottle. I think T enjoyed it too. He just kept smiling at her. Pure joy. :-)

I often think about the past two years of our life together. Everyday, I'm finding that our wait to be parents happened for different reasons. I have no doubt that our wait ended up being a blessing. I will also admit that during this two years, I often struggled to find the blessing in our wait.

But lately, I think part of the blessing is is that it gave T and I time to grow and learn, which will make us better parents in the long run. It gave us two more years as a couple. Two years that even though struggling, we enjoyed. We traveled, we laughed, we got to know each other even better as a couple.

This two year wait also allowed my older sister to have the first grandchild. A child that has blessed our family beyond measure. I'll never forget when she told me she was pregnant. My first IVF had just failed. She tried to tell me as delicately as possible. I remember feeling such joy for her, and such sadness for me. All at the same time. Now I'm convinced that part of my waiting was because my older sister was supposed to have the first child.

As I babysat my niece last Friday, we watched the Adoption Story on TLC. I told my niece all about adoption, and I told her about Khalil and the baby in my belly. My niece listened intently as I told her all about the gift of adoption, and even though she is just a little baby, she stared at me intently, and I felt like she was listening. I have no doubt that my niece will be a wonderful older cousin. She will grow up with my two little ones. What a blessing!

I couldn't have written this story better myself.