Traveling the Rock Road

My Lady and I started our lives together like the majority of you do and where we find ourselves today, in other words empty–nesters, no children.  But unlike most of you we began to wonder if that’s where we would live out days.  After marrying we moved to Indiana for me to attend college and then a couple of years passed and we were ready to start a family, only problem was it wasn’t happening.  We tried and even saw doctors to find if there was a problem with either of us, still no children.  A couple of years went by and we came to believe that we weren’t meant to have kids naturally so perhaps God was leading us to adopt.  This seemed like a viable solution to the problem and besides Cathy had been adopted herself so why not for us.

One of the first agencies we went with was a total disaster and we almost gave up entirely (I wrote about this on an earlier Rock Road Story).  Then someone suggested we go with the state agency and even possibly adopt children with disabilities. It wasn’t something we had thought of at that point in life, but the idea seemed to appeal to the both of us.  We applied with the state and quickly were able to see many available children in what some had nicknamed “The Children Catalog.”  Now friends, I don’t care who you are, take a look in this book which I imagine is the same in every state in the union and if it doesn’t tug at your heart strings, check your pulse, because something is wrong!  This volume of adoptable children was every bit as thick as a Sears catalog.  There was everything from babies to teenagers, from just a single child to complete families with as many as six youngsters.  They were of every race with the majority of them having some form of infirmity.  Just turning each page and looking deeply at one of the angelic faces brought tears to our eyes as you can imagine.

We began with an interest in a little girl named Melissa, a little cutie about 5 years old who was classified as mildly retarded.  She had been in a group home most of her life and the agency was anxious to get her into a good home.  Unfortunately, we were so early in the process of getting approved as adoptive parents that she was placed with another family.  I’ve never forgotten, Melissa.  Then our eyes fell on David, a dark haired little guy, probably mixed race, of about three years old who had a sever hearing loss.  In the picture they couldn’t get him to smile.  I had a feeling this was the one meant for us, the one we could make happy and bring that same feeling of happiness to us.  But it wasn’t to be, he was adopted before we could get approved also.  I’ve never forgotten, David.

The last one was Michael, a blondie about the same age as David; he had only two fingers on each hand.  His picture shouted out to us because of the big, even laughing smile he had spread across his face; I think we had found the one meant for us.

But then, one morning, Cathy arose not feeling well, and the feeling continued which came to mean only one thing, after six years the Millers were starting their family.  When we told the agency Cathy was pregnant, we were moved to the bottom of the list to make room for someone else who didn’t have children.  We were of course ecstatic with finally the opportunity to have a child of our own; but still, I’ve never forgotten, Michael.

Everyone who knows us realizes we have gone on to have three wonderful kids who have blessed us beyond anything we could ever have imagined, then with the addition of grandchildren to our lives, we have been living a dream that only God could have created for us.  Add into the factor the many kids that have come through our home at different times in life that still refer to us as mom and dad.  Now that we have returned to the empty-nest and looking back at the numbers of complaints I have from the whole episode, it totals nada!!!  I say it often and I’ll continue to say it, “I Am a Blessed Man!”

Okay, so what’s my point, well truthfully, I’m not sure.  Sometimes a story comes to me that I just start writing and see what God intends to do with it.  This time I believe perhaps there are several lessons here that the Lord might have given me.  So let’s take a look.

The first one that jumps out of course would be patience, waiting on God’s timetable and not creating our own; never seen an instance where ours was better than His anyway.

Check out Isaiah 40:43.

Next, I think we can look at opportunities that God puts in our path to see a hurting world sometimes in places where we never knew existed like orphans nearby us that desperately need someone to love them, and to love back.  Matthew 25:35-40 is a good one to look at.

The last one I can think of is this, it is my belief there are no accidents with who God puts in your path, there’s a reason.  In the case of three little tykes I never got to see personally, only on the pages of book; I feel perhaps they were placed in my path to pray for occasionally.  Never saw them and probably never will, but they’re a part of me so I pray for them.  You ask how can I still remember them after all these years?  Pretty easy actually, you see my kids help me remember the first three, my Jamie Melissa, my Jeremy David, and my Justin Michael.  Pretty cool huh?!!

As each of us make our way “Traveling the Rock Road,” let’s not take anything, any moment or any person for granted that we meet along the way; there’s a reason they’re there, the decision then becomes what do you choose to do with it.

I read one person who put it this way; “Everything happens for a reason.  I may not know why or how, but God does & that is all that matters!”  I’ve got no argument!!

Thanks for reading Friends and Family!!