On Growing a Family

How does a family grow? How does it go from one to two to three to four to five?

Ten years ago I was one.

One is a lonely number so along came Matt and then we were two.

Two can also be a lonely number so we set out to be three.

Three, however, was a difficult number to come by. And it took some heartache but God being who God is, at the right time, we became three.

And three was not so lonely a number anymore and we were happily settled for the time being but then there was a phone call and …surprise!…we were four.

Four is a great number. It is an even and solid number. It is a number to sit on forever.

But…

One is a lonely number when you are one child among many in an orphanage and there are only so many hands to take care of all the needs.

One is a lonely number when you were meant to live in family and to have a place to call home.

One is a lonely number when, by simple addition, you don’t have to be alone anymore.

Years ago, I didn’t know how we would grow from one to four, but today I do know how we will grow from four to five.

And as we embark in this adventure of a Haitian adoption, here are some other things I know about growing:

My belly may not grow but my heart will.
My bank account may not grow but my family will.
My house may not grow but the love and the joy it contains will.
And even though none of those things may grow…a child will.

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Gaby and her husband, Matt, live in South Carolina where Matt pastors a small church. Gaby is originally from Ecuador and, after a few years teaching Spanish in public high schools, she became a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of Isabel, 5 and Noah, 4 both adopted domestically. Her family is a little bit famous in their small southern town because they look like a committee of the United Nations everywhere they go, including using multiple languages just to confuse the neighbors. She and Matt are in the process of bringing home their third miracle, this time from Haiti. Read more about their family here.