She Matters, Too

She is worthy.

She is wanted.

She is loved.

She is beautiful.

I can't say that I ever imagined a day when I would be picking up my child(ren)'s birth mom and taking her to an important meeting with the people who are ensuring the safety of her youngest child.

I never imagined holding her hand as she shared openly about her current addictions and her confusion and her lifestyle.

I never imagined feeling the amount of grace and mercy and love for her that I do.

Because, while her children obviously matter to me a ton...

She matters, too.

Today was the starting point of figuring out what comes next. There are hard decisions to be made and a great deal of work that needs to be done, but we took a first step today. Hopefully a step that leads to permanency for her children and health for her.

Hopefully.

I've been asked 3 times now if we could just adopt her, too.

And 3 times I've answered that plea the same way:

You are family. And we love you.