we are eight. – gentino family

On April 24th, we celebrated 8 years as a family of six. Actually to be quite honest, we haven’t celebrated yet. David and I both had meetings that night so we all vowed to do something special together another time. A week and a day later, we’re still trying to find that time!

In the last few months, we had two “come full circle” moments that I wanted to share with you.

Firstly, after our family trip to the mountains at the end of December, we stopped in Greenville at the exact Barnes & Noble where David and I met our boys for the very first time. So I talked them into getting a picture in the children’s section where, nearly 8 years previously, we sat, rather dazed, on the floor and looked at board books and played stuffed animals with two friendly, curious and very rambunctious little boys and thought, Are they really, possibly going to become ours?

Four days later, they did.

Second, we went to court in April to celebrate the finalization of our friends’ adoption, and lo and behold, who was there but the lawyer from our own adoption case? Seeing him again, snapping this picture of our smiling family, then snapping pictures of him alongside our friends a few moments later, made me stop and realize just how much impact a person can have on lives around them, simply by being faithful to God’s calling. It’s due to dozens and dozens of ordinary, faithful people — from our attorney to our social workers to adoption agency office staff to friends and family who gave money — that we were able to bring our precious boys home forever.

I want to be one of those people for others.