His family is bigger... and what a gift it is...

So, can your child really have too many people that love them?

Can cheeseburgers and a common loved one, bring many families together making them one? :)

What does opening up your heart to all the hidden blessings God may have for you truly look like?

How can God take many broken hearts from many different families, and creatively bond them together into something beautiful?

My heart was so full last Saturday night... 

I have had to take a couple of days to mull it over:)

We were invited to a cheeseburger challenge in memory of Levi's biological dad Ryan. 

It was time to remember a special man and fund raise for Cystic Fibrosis, which is what he had died from over 6 years ago...

It is a strange thing adoption... It is a beautiful thing...

And embryo adoption is no different...

But each adoption situation is SO different from another... 

And God has had a way of knocking our socks off with all 3 of our adoptions...

When we adopted our 7 embryos... we had lots of communication with our embryo donor and pretty much left the nature of the future of the adoption in her hands... whether it would be open or closed or how we would communicate as time went on...

I am so thankful that she chose to be a part of Levi's life and ours...

The fact that her first husband had passed away because he had Cystic Fibrosis immediately connected me to her... we shared a commonality of loss... My heart broke for her... 

I have ALWAYS tried to put myself in her shoes... (I know that really isn't possible...) What if I had lost my husband and there was a child out there that was part of both of us... how would I feel?  We have always felt that we wanted them to be a part of Levi's life and ours if that was possible..

We have been blessed to get together with our donor mom, Kristin and her twins who came from the same batch of embryos as our Levi, a few times over the last few years....  And boy does Levi look like his biological sister... crazy amazing!!!  

God worked an amazing thing on so many levels by moving us up north... ironically we are MUCH closer now to Levi's biological family, which is a TRUE blessing in our lives... 

In fact, strangely we now live less than an hour from most of Levi's biological dad's family. 

In time, while still in Oklahoma,  I connected to Levi's biological dad's mom... My heart went out to her as well...

We share the same loss of a child, a son... I have often tried to put myself in her shoes... 

I have asked myself a million times... How could I keep a piece of their loved one from them?  Honestly, the only reason I could is if it wasn't in the best interest of Levi... :)

But that just isn't the case... they are amazing Christian people... 

Greg, Levi, and myself with our Sweet donor mom and her other two kids...

 I am in awe of her sacrifice to our family and how incredibly blessed we are each and every day because of her gift to us!

The whole group at the CF cheeseburger Challenge Dinner... remembering Ryan Sweeney...
I loved meeting so many of them, seeing the wonder  and tenderness in their eyes as they met Levi... Hearing their special stories of life with Ryan when he was alive.  There were some tears and many were sharing how much Levi looked like Ryan...

Cousins... the stare down...These two were cracking me up:)

Levi with his biological siblings and cousin... They had so much fun... Anna loved hanging out with Levi's sister and cousin... and Levi still is saying that his biological brother is his best friend... I can't help but think ahead to the moment that any of this makes sense to Levi...

I am thankful that it won't ever need to be something that is a mystery to him...

This is pretty much how 90% of Levi's pictures were that night... He would not stop yelling
"CHEESEBURGER CHALLENGE"  for every... single... picture... :)

We now have had the chance to meet all of his grandparents... I can not tell you how precious it was to me to have a chance to get to know them more... I can see how much they all love Levi... It warms my heart more than I can describe...

Can your child ever really have too many people in their life to love them?

When I think of them... I can not help but think of all the time and love they poured into their kids, Kristin and Ryan, who biologically make up my son... They are all so precious to me because of all they did for their kids over the years,  which in turn helped make Levi who he is...

 We even got to meet more of Levi's biological aunts and uncles.

I feel so blessed to have these two ladies in my life and especially in Levi's life...

Many have asked me over the years..."Is it weird seeing them?"  "Are you overwhelmed or nervous when you get together?"  

I can honestly say, I 100% look forward to it... I have a total peace in my heart... Another testament to the ability of God to work is shown when I recalled Kristin's words to me after we met for the first time... She said something to the affect of Loving Levi in a special way, but that God had given her heart total peace and that it felt just like a good friend had a new baby... Wow... that simply amazes me... 

I never would have imagined it in my own small human mind, the ways God would beautifully knit us all together... 

Just as God so beautifully and perfect knit Levi together as a tiny embryo almost 8 1/2 years ago and held him safely as he was frozen for 5 years...

Just as God so perfectly knit him together in my womb... 

He so creatively and beautifully has knit our families together... I truly am blown away...

Blown away by His blessings... Blown away by His amazing goodness to us... 

Blown away by the amount of people that love this little man...

Tonight my heart is so full, knowing and seeing first hand the continued miracles of Levi's story and the way God knit him into our family...

His story is really God's story and it will NEVER get old to me:)

Levi's family is bigger... and that is a really beautiful thing:)