On this day 14 years ago, a beautiful girl was born in Saratov, Russia. She was small, but she had an unmistakable sparkle in her eye. She was given a beautiful name that was inspired by an opera. The name had a striking resemblance to the Russian word for “hope.”

On the same day, more than 6,000 miles away, a couple in Austin, Texas made an important decision. They wrote an email message to their adoption agency case worker:

“It has been about 2 years since we first contacted you about adopting, but after some long periods of inactivity, we are finally ready to go. We had completed all of our paperwork except the homestudy by about a year ago. We waited though, to be absolutely sure we were ready to make all the life changes. Now, finally, we are ready.”

Fast forward to seven months later. The couple was leaving on a journey of a lifetime to the other side the world. This particular journey would make them parents – exciting, terrifying, joyful, unsettling stuff. A final task before departure was to sort through a stack of papers to identify the few that would accompany them on their journey.

The content of the email was familiar, but the date popped off the page. November 8, 2002. This was the day, they now knew, when their soon-to-be daughter had been born. And this was also the very day when they had decided they were finally ready to go. The day when they became absolutely sure they were ready to make all the life changes.

All anxiety faded away. God’s got this – and has had it all along.

So today we celebrate. We celebrate a birthday and an amazing young woman that God has entrusted into our care. We also celebrate the miraculous gift of our family. We celebrate a mother and a daughter living together in Texas, both named for an opera, and both with a sparkle in their eye.

As we look ahead to a new journey, we remember that God has been faithful. Our prayers are not always answered as we imagine, or in our timing. But we have seen with our own eyes that God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20.) God is faithful. And God is good.

Happy Birthday to our very favorite 14-year-old!

-Doug