Love You from Scratch

Today it hit me in a different kinda way that I love these two little babies so much and I haven't even met them yet. They don't look like me. They don't live near me. I don't know what they look like. They don't speak my language. I don't know what kind of issues they might have. And yet, I love them. Wholly. Implicitly. Irrationally. There's no good reason why I should love my soon-to-be kiddos. I love them from scratch, with no substance to explain why I should. I just do.

I'm sure all mommas feel that way about the babies growing in their belly, but this is just a little weird for me since my body looks the same and my kiddos won't look like me.

Yet, it speaks to how I think God must feel about me, too. I've read Psalm 139:13-14 a hundred times before, and I've read them to countless others whom I've wanted to ensure how God feels about them. But now I feel this way about my little ones:

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

God's loved me from scratch - before there was anything there to love. I love my babies like that, too. We know our older one is alive somewhere in Ethiopia right now. We bet our younger one is conceived and growing in someone's womb somewhere. In my deepest prayers I have to believe that God's protecting them and preparing their life to be with us. I can't wait to hold my little ones and exclaim to them, "You're breathtaking! I thank God for you! And I promise to know you as best I can from the inside out." I think I can say that because God's said that first about me.

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April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.

Baby Shower #2

Last month our small group (Erin & Tony Kim; Loc & Christina Ta) threw us a Baby Prayer & Donation Shower. It was 1 week into my Sabbatical, and I was just excited to see my friends and Newsong family. Around 20 of our friends showed up to hear our story, donate to our adoption fees, and pray for our process. It was a beautiful night. In a span of a few hours, over $2500 was donated to Baby Ethiopia.

Overwhelming. Beautiful. Inspiring. Humbling. Tearful. Joyful. Affirming. Encouraging. Envisioning. Generous. Sacrificial.


LEFT: Tony had everyone play a game of "how much do you love Brian and April" with questions related to our adoption process. I was amazed with how well informed everyone was!







ABOVE:
A beautitful July night dreaming and sharing about Baby Ethiopia. Everyone also was invited to write prayers on a card with Amharic words of "peace", "hope", "joy", "love" to direct prayers! They also gave everyone a monthly prayer journey to guide prayers until Baby Ethiopia comes home.




BELOW: The crowning moment of the night: prayers from our friends for our little one. I lost it when Erin Kim started praying for protection over our little one wherever she is right now. The momma in me was overcome with emotion as I thought about her on the other side of our planet. It's changed how I pray now!
Thank you for coming and being a part of this journey.
Your love is changing us.

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April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.

Love Up Close

Love can't love from a distance. I've already been asked a few times "why are you adopting from Ethiopia specifically?" or "why are you going to Malawi with Newsong?" It's because Love is up close. It's personal. It doesn't admire or gaze at a distance. It gets down and dirty. It requires sacrifice. It takes a leap of faith. It's rarely comfortable.

Easter was yesterday. And it was a glaring, moving reminder to me of the incarnate Love of our God who came to be with us. He could have done everything from Heaven. He could have taken care of it all from a distance. But he didn't. He chose to be close to us, at the greatest cost imaginable.

Today, we did most of our home study paperwork. Ugh. But even as I was filling out the tedious questions about our finances, our marriage, our work, I was reminded that Love is up close and personal.

Tomorrow, we are headed for 2 weeks in Malawi. Not to hang with Madonna. To capture a glance of God's activity in his people there. And to see how Newsong can be a blessing for the next 10-15 years in that community. It's costing us a lot. It's cost our friends and family something. But love requires us to get close.

I love you, Baby Ethiopia. We promise to love you up close.

1 Comment

April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.