Jake. The Beginning.

I have been excited to share Jake's story.  I decided to post my journal entries rather than retell it for the blog. Here's the beginning of our miracle:

 

Mar. 1

Today was a typical day at home.  Actually, a little better than a typical day.  Tyler was home (a rare treat given his heavy travel schedule) and came downstairs just in time to welcome the kids as they come off the bus.  We then walked hand in hand to the mailboxes and enjoyed a nice chat.  I remember commenting to him how dang blessed we are for our great life here in Austin and for our 3 amazing kids. 

We came home from our short escape from routine life.  I was in the kitchen with my apron on, and the kids were having a great time running in and out of the house with their friends. 

A knock at the door, and my friend, Robin comes in to tell me what just happened to her.  She was taking a walk with her daughter, Claire, and she met a lady who was walking her little grandson.  They stopped for a nice, neighborly chat, and this woman goes on to tell Robin about how they are raising their little grandbaby who just turned 1 last week.  She shared the painful realization that being raised by older grandparents (67) would be so unfair to him, and they were starting to come to terms that adoption will be inevitable.

When Robin shared this with me, it shook me a bit.

You see, just about a month ago, my other friend and neighbor, Melissa, had just gotten home from the grocery store when I ran over to her house to chat.  She told me about a friend, Tom, that she had run into at HEB.  He was there with his little grandson, and had told her the same story.  We went on to chat about how sad and hard that situation would be.  At that time, my heart strings were pulled,  but who’s wouldn’t be, right?  I didn’t think much more of it once I left her house.

Now here I was, hearing the same story a second time, and this time, it shook me to the core.  I knew I had to talk to Tyler.

After Robin left, I relayed our conversation to him and how I felt, and he immediately responded with, “you know we have to contact this family.”  

My head started to spin.  I knew he was right.  There is no other way to explain the calm other than it came straight from heaven.  The normal me would be freaking out.  I knew that I would be writing this family that evening, and was calm enough to carry on with my dinner and kid wrangling without any anxiety.

Tyler took the kids out to play basketball, and here is the letter I wrote.  It was pretty much a first draft.  I sat down and wrote what came into my mind, and didn’t analyze it much once I was done.  Again, not very typical of me when writing something so important.  Here is the letter I wrote:

Hello,

My name is Robyn Mons. I was given your contact information by my good friend, Melissa Clark, who is a resident here in Falconhead West.

I'm not quite sure where to start... I guess maybe tell you what brings me to this email. I apologize if this seems impersonal, but I wanted you to be able to read and think about this instead of talking to me on the phone or in person at first. This is in regards to your precious grandson, and I didn't want to put you on the spot.

A few months ago, I was at Melissa's house, and she had just come home from the grocery store. She told me that she had seen one of our neighbors (you) and that you were telling her about your grandson and how you were hoping to possibly find him a family. When she told me, it touched my heart, but I didn't really say anything.

Just yesterday, another friend of mine in the neighborhood, Robin Yeamans, was on a walk with her daughter when she met Linda who was taking your grandson for a walk. Robin came over to my house right after and told me about their conversation, which was similar to yours and Melissa's at the grocery store.

It didn't take me long to realize that both stories were regarding the same child. This time, not only did it touch my heart, but I felt that I needed to share these feelings with my husband. When I told my husband about this,  he immediately encouraged me to contact you.

Tyler and I have 3 beautiful children. We have a lot of love in our home and have always wanted more children, but after losing our 4th baby early on in my pregnancy, we have not been able to grow our family. We have always felt that adoption was an option for us, but felt that it would come to us, rather than going through an agency or going to a foreign land.

Neither of my neighbors knew that this was in our hearts, but both felt the need to share your conversations with me. My husband and I feel that we should at least reach out to you.

I'm not sure where you are in the process physically and emotionally in regards to finding a family for your grandson. If you truly are looking to find him a loving home and family, we would welcome the opportunity to have you over, or meet over dinner and discuss this further.

I don't want to impose or be a nuisance, so I am leaving it up to you to contact me. Either way, if you could just let me know that you did receive this, that would be great. I just want to make sure you did receive this message.

We live on ... (most people know us as the house with the kids always shooting baskets in our hoop). My phone # ...

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warmest Regards,
Robyn Mons