The Gift of Generosity

Today my family received an amazing Christmas gift.  Someone very close to me brought me to lunch and told him how much I mean to him, and how much he appreciates my friendship and the things that I do for him.  He told me that he considers me a part of his family, and that he is proud that Chris and I are working so hard to adopt Katie Ruth.  He told me that he and his wife had talked, and that they want to help us bring Katie home.  He knows how stressful the expenses of the adoption are when I think about them.  He knows that, when we started this process, we knew we would have to work really, really hard to raise the money to bring Katie home.  And he knows that we have.  And he told me that he will pay the remainder of our adoption expenses when we're done fundraising.

Yes, you read that correctly.  When we are done with our fundraising, he will pay for the rest.

Let that sink in for a minute.

He was so heartfelt in and sincere in his intent and his feelings behind this amazing gift, and the sentiment and the purpose behind his generosity mean as much to me as the monetary gift.  He has absolutely no obligation to do this for us.  But he has done it.  He has his own family to support, and three children of his own.  He obviously has the financial means to do this for us, but more than that he has the heart to.  There is no way for our family to ever thank his family for this.  And he doesn't expect us to.  And please don't think this is the first generous thing he has done for us.  He has always been exceptionally generous to me.  But this - this is a different level.   This is literally bringing our child home.  And he is so excited to meet her - this gift was genuine and entirely from the heart.  We are amazingly blessed.

So tonight I am thankful for incredible friends.  For generosity and selflessness.  For humility and for being able to appreciate all of the blessings we have received.  I am thankful that this little girl that nobody wanted has shown me so much about the people I love, and about people I don't even know.  I am thankful that my family has jumped into this journey to our sweet girl with open arms and open hearts.  I am thankful that I have surrounded myself and my family with people who will accept Katie as a Simpson, not as a child that was thrown away.  I am thankful for the journey, and I cannot wait to see her sweet face at the end.  And I am thankful that my sweet friend has made that reality so much easier for us to see.