This past week I've been thinking a lot about some acquaintances of ours.  They were on the adoption list at the same time we were.  I remember, 2 years ago when we were working on getting back on the list after Kade's adoption, our social worker told us to hurry up and get our stuff in because there was another couple working on theirs and they were going to be finishing up any day.  Although birth parents can look at as many profiles as they want, the order in which they see them is based on how long a couple has been waiting.  Or sometimes a birth mother doesn't choose a couple at all and the baby goes to the couple next in line.  Such was the case for Mason.

We ended up getting our stuff in about 3 days before them.  At the time we didn't realize we actually knew this couple.  Not that it would've made a difference.  We didn't do anything to expedite our paperwork process and we definitely didn't "hurry up".  Paperwork, photo scrapbooks and writing letters about ourselves is not something we enjoy and we most definitely didn't hustle getting it in!  Anyway, if we had waited another week this couple would've become Mason's parents.  

The reason I'm thinking about them is because they brought home a baby girl in June.  They had her home for exactly 2 months when the birthdad filed a custody lawsuit and ended all adoption proceedings.  This was their first baby.  They got to be parents for exactly 2 months.  It's heart wrenching.  It's every adoptive couple's worst nightmare come true.  They literally had to pack her up and take her back to her birthmom on the spot.  Although that exact situation crossed my mind a billion times, I could never bring myself to actually plan for it.  I know God has a plan for them and I pray that it involves a baby in their very near future.

Adoption is a beautiful thing but sometimes it's not.  I've said this before and I'll say it again, adoption is not for the weak...and that goes for both sides of the adoption--birth family and adoptive family.  Everything happens for a reason and I thank God everyday for my boys.