Jared & Judah
A full circle moment.
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I got to know Jared last year (June 2023) on Mackinac Island during a youth conference. He was DJing (Jared goes by the stage name, DJ CODE) for hip-hop artist, FLAME, while I was one of the speakers. When I say I know a DJ and a hip-hop artist I feel cool, so if I say it again, don’t be surprised.
We got to talking as we set up our merch tables. We discussed writing and touring and how incredible it is that our jobs brought us to share hope with high school students on an island in Michigan. Life is wild. Here I was thinking, “Wow! I get to share the stage with a DJ and a hip-hop artist! How crazy!” And I bet they were thinking, “Oh. Well, cool. We get to share the stage with a middle aged man who reads poetry. How crazy.”
“You got any kids?” Jared asked.
“Nope. Not yet. Hopefully soon! My wife and I have started the adoption process.”
Jared’s eyes got big.
Not in a way that makes you wish you didn’t say what you had said, but in a way that you were glad you said what you had said.
“I’m adopted,” Jared said with a smile.
He went on to tell me about his adoption.
He told me about his birth mom.
He told me about the questions he had and still has.
He told me about being black and having white parents.
He told me about how they loved him and the sacrifices they made for him.
He told me about how he loved them.
He told me how he thought adoption was beautiful.
I told him how excited Sarah and I were.
I told him how we had been diagnosed with unexplained infertility.
I told him about how God led us to adoption.
I told him about the questions I had.
I told him about the pain and hope of waiting.
I told him about how I didn’t want to blow it.
I told him how we could get a call any day.
When you are in the process of adoption it’s all you can think about. All of your prayers start and end with praying for a child and their birth family. You are praying for unknowns to become known. You are praying for what you cannot see, but will one day see. You are praying for health and happiness. You are praying without names or faces or stories. You are just praying, clinging to faith, believing that God is up to something. Knowing God is going to do something amazing, but you don’t know what or when or how.
You just trust.
It’s all you can do.
The next day Jared, Flame, and I rode bikes around Mackinaw Island. Life is wild. Here I was thinking, “Wow! I get to ride bikes around an island with a DJ and a hip-hop artist! How crazy!” And I bet they were thinking, “Oh. Well, cool. We get to ride bikes around an island with a middle aged man who writes poetry. How crazy.”
As we rode we swapped dreams and told stories. We talked about theology and books. We got off our bikes and skipped rocks along the water. We discussed what projects we were working on and I mentioned how I was ready for the next chapter of my life to begin.
The next chapter began 4 months later.
When Judah came home I texted Jared and Flame. I sent photos and updated and we celebrated over the phone. A few weeks later we met up at another youth conference, but this time in Kansas. Life is wild. Here I was thinking, “Wow! I get to share the stage with a DJ and a hip-hop artist! Again! How crazy!” And I bet they were thinking, “Oh. Well, cool. We get to share the stage with a middle aged dad who is a writer. How crazy.”
I showed them even more photos of Judah because this is what you do when you are a new parent. I told them about the day we received the phone call and the moment I got to hold him for the first time. I told them about how I had never been so happy to be so tired and then I lost my train of thought because I was so happy and so tired.
And then I told them what I had been wanting to tell them for weeks, but didn’t want to say over the phone. “I hope Judah gets to know you. I want him to call you Uncle. I want y’all to play a meaningful role in our sons life.”
And they said, “Of course.”
Of course they did.
This is what friends do for friends.
Last week Jared got to hold Judah for the first time. It was sweet. One of those full circle moments you want to hold onto forever. Judah doesn’t know that we’ve been praying for him before he was even born. He also doesn’t know that we’ve been praying for men and women to walk alongside him as he navigates the questions of adoption, race, and faith.
But Judah knows that he is loved and he always will be.
God is always up to something.
We just trust.
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I just love to see when God brings the right person at just the right time into our lives! God is soo good!!
What a blessing for all of y’all!!!! That was definitely what I call a GOD set up thingy!!🙂💕