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Four years ago this week, we met our son. Sounds like a strange statement, right? Met? Not born?

Well, the thing is, he was born more than a year before we met him. He was adopted into our family in 2011 and we met him almost 14 months after his birthday. It was a surreal experience.

We had been praying about adoption for years. Then, once we finished all the paperwork, it was just a matter of waiting. And waiting. (…and waiting). When we finally got the call to meet him, we were ecstatic, excited, exuberant, elated…and nervous. What if he didn’t like us? What if he cried the whole time we were with him? What if we didn’t connect the way we’re hoping and praying for?

So, there we are in a meeting room, talking with a social worker about how everything will happen. And then all of a sudden, without warning, our son walks in with his caretaker. I didn’t even have time to turn my video camera on to document the moment!

He was clutching his little toy very tightly. He wasn’t smiling. His cheeks and nose were chapped from the cold weather. He looked scared. And was extremely quiet. I went to give him a hug, but he backed away from me and gave me a cold stare.

But…

He was instantaneously our son. Immediately. We looked at him as loving parents and there was no doubt in our minds that our lives were completely changed. He had no idea what was going on, but we knew. Everybody else became blurry. But he was in focus. This little boy was now our son. We just wanted to hold him and let him know we loved him. We just wanted him to rest in the comfort of our arms.

Every time we get to the end of November now, I think back to that meeting and how God changed our lives. And then I think about how my life was changed when I learned how we are adopted by God.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:4-6

Sometimes with God we pull away. We’re not ready. We’re not “cleaned up.” Maybe our cheeks are chapped. Maybe we’re quiet. Maybe we’re scared. But God is the one who has called us. He is waiting for us. Hoping for us. We are in his family because he loves us first.

As many as received Him, to them he gave the right, the authority, to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name. John 1:12

And that is very comforting.