Grace

I have this little flip calendar that sits on my counter.  I am not always the best about flipping it each morning, but I decided to today.  It is about grace.  Fitting since Hayley's middle name is Grace.  This is what it said:

"Grace is what someone gives us out of the goodness of his heart, not out of the perfection of ours.  The story of grace is the good news that says that when we come, He gives.  Grace is something you did not expect.  It is something you certainly could never earn.  But grace is something you'd never turn down."

This pretty much sums up many of my thoughts on this precious girl that God has given us.  I was only given her by His grace.  I came to Him and asked for the desire of my heart, to adopt a baby from China, and He gave that to me.  I didn't expect for everything to go, as smoothly and quickly as it did.  I could never have done anything to deserve or earn the ability to care for this little girl, but God sees fit to trust her with us.  And when it says "grace is something you'd never turn down", this made me smile becuase on our paper we requested a child 0-14 months.  I didn't know what age to put down, and really battled with that.  And Nate said "Don't worry about it.  Just put down an age, and God will take care of it".  He was right.  God took care of it.  She was older than we expected, but perfect for us.