Today’s Reading: 2 Nephi 1:1-9
6 Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.
Exactly fourteen years ago today I happened to glance at a newspaper article that changed our lives for good.
It was our daughter’s first birthday when I learned of thousands of children suffering in Haiti. Exactly 500 days filled with nudges, coincidences, and undeniable promptings later we met our three adopted children for the first time and brought them home to America. All except one. We arrived in time to finally meet our baby Christopher, care one night for him, and then tearfully place him in a hot, humid, flea infested hospital just a few hours before he died. I have come to feel “the hand of the Lord” helping me to understand and accept Christopher’s death as much as his hand brought my daughter and son to our home in America.
I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return-Stephen Schwartz, Wicked
I know they were “brought by the hand of the Lord” into this land and into our lives for a reason. I believe the Lord knew they would “help [me] most to grow if [I] let them”. Still, it took years and years of desperate prayer, several parenting classes, and a lot of pondering for me to learn and grow in the ways I needed to. I confronted the ugliest and darkest part of myself in my search for becoming the mother God wanted me to be. Now I can truly call them my dearest friends. I love to be with them and help them and watch them succeed. I hope they will one day see through my imperfections and know I only wanted to “help them in return.” I have a feeling Christopher knows that already.
I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada and California and promised every childhood friend I would never raise my family in Utah…until I fell in love with the most amazing fourth generation Orem boy. Now we are raising our kids in the house he grew up in and we love it. I am an estate planning attorney and marriage educator but I really want to be better at those half-baked talents like speaking Spanish, playing the piano, and making dinner every night! Read more about me at mormon.org