Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

Love had a plan for us

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“When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
and how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us, oh,
oh, how He loves us,
how He loves us all.”

We were singing that song in church and I was holding my sleeping Rachel. Cate was on my right side and Ben was not too far down on my left next to Gran-Gran. Greg sat on the other side of Cate. There I was, in the middle of a row of chairs at church in the middle of the family God created.

Our college friend Amber had been sitting in our row too, but by this moment she had already gone to take of the nursery kids. Behind me sat a couple who has loved my family so well and taught me about how the Bible applies to real life; my best friend and her family with whom so much of my life is intertwined; and other dear friends who have been part of my everyday life the past six years in a way that has changed me for the better. This is community.

Tears welled in my eyes because God did this for me. He gave me these people and orchestrated a story of family that extends beyond my house. This journey has looked nothing like I planned when I stopped taking birth control in December 2004.

Cate’s adoption and then Ben’s adoption followed a hard season of infertility. {Here’s a summary.} And then there was a hard adoption season we didn’t expect. We waited for this third child, not knowing if she was going to come. We believed we were supposed to have a third child but we had met so many closed doors I doubted I was hearing God right.

I heard other people’s stories of heartache as they waited to conceive or adopt. I have waited and was waiting, but I wondered if I was being greedy. I regularly wondered: Was it wrong to desire a third child whom I believed God said he would give when I knew so many other women waiting to become a mom for the first time?

I wrestled with it. But I’ve settled on this: God knows what he’s doing and it’s not my job to control the outcome. {Tweet that.} He gave us our third child, in surprise fashion but in accordance with his faithfulness. And that same God is working in my friends’ lives as they wait and learn and trust and believe.

Love had a plan for us and God has one for you too. {Tweet that.}

All of that got us here. Oh how he loves us. He loved us during the hard days and loves us still when we see some of the plan. Rachel is perfect in our family. She belongs here, just like I belong smack dab in the middle of my people.

_____________________

In that picture above, our shirts say “Love had a plan for me,” which is a line from my favorite Slugs & Bugs’ song. Randall Goodgame recently brought Slugs & Bugs back to the Murray area. Hope That Binds hosted the concert as a fundraiser and, y’all, what a joy to have two of my favorite ministries together in one place celebrating families, adoption and the gospel. {You can see all my pictures from the event here.}

Want more insights? “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family” is available on Amazon. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, peek into my life on Instagram, follow 152 Insights at Bloglovin’, or subscribe to receive “Insights in Your Inbox.”

Rejoice, mourn, show up for #ThreeWordWednesday

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Adoption creates a community like no other. I’ve talked before about how my relationships with birth moms are unlike any other relationships I’ve experienced – and more specifically what that looked like this time. And then, hopefully, there is the larger community that comes alongside and embraces the process.

Since Rachel was born Sept. 19, people have showed up at our house, on Facebook, at the bus stop, and in the mail box with kind words, gifts and meals. They’ve wanted to hold Rachel and hear more of our story – how we are doing, how the hospital stay was, what Rachel is like, how Cate and Ben are adjusting.

They have embraced us as a family of five and the process of adoption. They have offered prayers for Rachel’s birth mom, understanding our celebration is just one side of the story.

I’m reminded about when my father-in-law Gary unexpectedly died in April 2010 and our people took care of us. Yes, we were surprised by his death, but we were also pleasantly surprised by how people held us together. Talk about bittersweet.

Greg and I have always believed in doing life with our friends, but those days leading up to the funeral and the ones after, people showed up with their words, meals, help and love.

Birth and death really do rally a community and remind me of Romans 12:15 :: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

And now, as I sit here with a newborn baby, I’m reminded about how we shouldn’t limit our showing up to birth and death. {Tweet that.} We should show up on the hard days that don’t make sense, the confusing ones that we can’t solve, the happy ones that leave our belly hurting from all the laughter – and all of the days between.

_____________________

Speaking of adoption and community, I’ve started an adoption community online. It’s a private Facebook group, where those of us who have adopted or are in the process of doing so gather together to share resources, prayer requests, and adoption happenings.

I’ve long prayed God would use our story to encourage other families and it’s exciting to see that happening. If you or someone you know could benefit from such an adoption group, let me know and I’ll be happy to send an invite to you.

_____________________

I’m linking up with the weekly Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood Gathering. 

Want more insights? “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family” is available on Amazon. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, peek into my life on Instagram, follow 152 Insights at Bloglovin’, or subscribe to receive “Insights in Your Inbox.”

Run for life

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Toward the end of last week, Cate started talking about running in a local 5K. I didn’t want to discourage her from doing so, but I wasn’t sure how that would go for my 8-year-old girl who had never done anything like this. So the day before our favorite local 5K, I decided to run too. Y’all, I hadn’t run since the same race THE YEAR BEFORE.

Life House Care Center’s Run for Life is our favorite 5K because it’s our favorite cause. Life House helps women choose life for the babies growing inside them. Life House offers women counseling and resources to prepare them for motherhood or adoption and provides support to women who didn’t choose life in the past. Greg serves on the board and helps organize the run. We’ve given diapers, money, and even the crib we didn’t think we needed any more to this organization so they can help more women and babies.

So, if I’m going to run in a 5K, this is the one I would choose every time.

I told Cate about the course and how she should be careful not to start out too fast. She didn’t seem unsure – especially when her cousin and a friend from church were going to run too. I loved seeing her excitement about this.

She took off at the start – so fast I tried yelling her name to tell her to slow down. But she couldn’t hear me. So I just jogged in the pack behind her. I could see the edges of her pink shorts beneath her too-big T-shirt she’d gotten when we signed her up to run.

Cate ran and walked and ran some more. And I’m sure she talked the whole way. She followed the group of runners in front of her and glanced behind her toward me. She told me later about the people she met on certain stretches of the 3.1 miles.

I hadn’t run in a year, but I ran the first three-fourths of a mile before slowing to a walk for a while. Then I ran more. I chatted with an acquaintance who was running her first-ever 5K. I thought about these women who face crisis pregnancies but choose life anyway.

And it took me about 2.5 miles to get close to my daughter again. I cheered for her run the last stretch toward the finish line. And then I finished not too far behind her.

My son – who had run a much shorter kids Fun Run earlier in the morning and already declared his intention to run next year – met me at the finish line with a bottle of water. I don’t really like running, but there’s nothing like finishing.

I heard people cheering for me – even though I was among the slower people to finish – and imagined that’s like the great crowd of witnesses that encourages us in the race God has for us (Hebrews 12:1).

The race we’re called to run isn’t always easy. But it’s marked with such goodness. {Tweet that.}

Keeping up with my daughter wasn’t really an option for most of those 3.1 miles, but seeing her independence and excitement brought much joy to my momma heart. Finishing the race marked before me gave me a sense of accomplishment that will encourage me in other endeavors.

In that sense, running is much like faith. Let’s keep going.

________________

I wrote about this race last year too. 

Want more insights? “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family” is available on Amazon. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, peek into my life on Instagram, follow 152 Insights at Bloglovin’, or subscribe to receive “Insights in Your Inbox.”