MY WIFE LISA AND I have a favorite quote, “Adoption: when your family
tree becomes an orchard.” Our family will forever be connected to the family
trees of each of our children. Even as time passes and seasons change, we
remain connected through open adoptions. Each of our children joined our
family through a series of connections and events which could only have been
orchestrated by God’s timing and ultimate plan, what a miracle!
Our youngest son arrived in what we have described as a surprise
adoption. Miles is our most unexpected gift. Upon moving to our home, we
had closed our adoption home study and notified our agency and the National
Down syndrome Adoption Network that we were not planning to adopt again.
Technically, we should have never even heard about Miles. His birth family
connected with someone who then put them in touch with our adoption
agency; the person at the agency happened to be the exact person who
had worked with our family. Again, they should have never heard about us.
A phone call on a Sunday afternoon led to a meeting a few days later, and
Miles arrived at our door and was handed to us with great love by his birth
family. We completed a new home study from application to approval in two
weeks while caring for our new baby. Just four days before, we had been going
about our daily routines with no inclination that something amazing was just
around the corner— our family had just grown by two feet.
Lisa's reading a book about miracles. The day before this note was due to
our editor, she shared with me a rarely known detail of Joni Eareckson Tada’s
story. The miracle of how Joni survived that life-changing dive from a raft in a
lake is a testament to our Lord’s sovereignty. The second Joni hit the bottom of
the lake, she was paralyzed from the neck down. She was wholly underwater,
with no ability to move her arms or legs to propel herself back to the surface.
The clock instantly began ticking. At that moment, her sister was walking
toward the shore with her back to Joni when a crab pinched her toe. Joni’s
sister turned around to warn Joni about the crabs and saw blonde hair just
under the surface; she quickly realized something was wrong and swam to
her sister’s aide. The very night before, Joni had bleached her hair on a whim
from a “mousy” brown to white-blonde. This act ended up helping to save her
life a short time later. Had she not changed her hair color, Joni’s sister wouldn’t
have noticed her beneath the water, and she would have most likely drowned.
I find it rather interesting that Lisa shared that story from her book
without realizing that this month’s feature story is about Joni Eareckson Tada’s
ministry. Even though we had both read her stories before, these were new
details of which we had never heard, adding to our amazement of God’s plan
for Joni’s life. If we take the time to do so, most of us can look back over our
lives and remember something incredible that could be seen as a miracle.
As always, may you find joy in the simple things.
~~~
Marlin Miller is the publisher of Plain Values magazine
