Recently, the phrase "another unwanted life," used in defense of the "merits" of abortion, left me trembling and raw. How can it be said that someone else's life won't be worth living? That they aren't wanted?
The end of December marked 18 months of waiting for our next child (if you don't count the first 6 months of preparation and paperwork). We are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of us waiting to adopt "unwanted" children. Some of us waiting for years and years. Waiting for children of every color and physical condition. Praying and waiting for pregnant girls and women to see that there is a way for their child to have a life. And that there is a way for them to go on with their own lives with dignity and purpose. True, it is a great sacrifice to nurture a life in the womb for 9 months. To bear a child and relinquish her into the hands of someone else is not a small thing. But what is it worth, to save someone's life?
I have been moved more than ever in the past 2 years to pray for women with unexpected and unwanted pregnancies. Sometimes I think that perhaps this is part of the purpose of my own pain. That I could carry these women in my heart and pray for them. Praying that they could be bold and courageous. That they could sacrificially love that very small person. That they could be safe. That they could be somebody's hero.
What Audrey's birth mother did for Audrey and for our family, our community and future generations cannot be measured. How grateful I am for all these little ones who have been given a chance to live and for their first mommas who gave them that chance.
