How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who…

brings good news.

   Isaiah 5:7

Forty some years ago I was a young woman ready to start a family, to become the mother I’d always dreamed about. But as happens, no babies were given and so I used my nurturing skills in the classroom, loving the third graders as well as little stray animals that always managed to find me.

But soon that was not enough, being a mother was what I wanted most in my life.  I wanted to feel the tender softness of a baby, to change diapers and fix bottles. A friend of ours had recently adopted a baby, so my husband and I began to talk about adoption.  Finally we built up the courage to make an appointment with Catholic Charities.  About nine months later,‘ the messenger brought the good news’ that our prayer to become a family had been answered and we were presented with a beautiful baby girl only 7 days old.  We were ecstatic and settled into changing our lifestyle to accommodate this new little person in our lives.

As often happens, ‘the messenger’ had not finished His work, and a few years later, I found myself pregnant and we began to look forward to adding another little person to our family.  Our second daughter was born and we were now a family of four, rejoicing and dealing with all that two little girls bring to your heart.  We loved telling each girl about how they came to be a part of our family; how Catholic Charities with God’s help found just the right baby for us and how God in His wisdom gave us another ‘just right’ baby.

When our oldest daughter was in her twenties, she decided, with our support and assistance, to try to find her birth mother.  Again, Catholic Charities was contacted and with their help and the help ‘of the messenger’, the birth mother was found.  She was also looking for the daughter she wasn’t able to keep.  A meeting of our daughter and her birth mother was arranged.  At the same time a meeting of all family members (numbering 13) took place.  Our little family was expanding by leaps and bounds and we were all filled with joy.

A loving friendship developed between our daughter and her birth mother, one that we could not be happier about.  Over the years we’ve been reminded about how blessed we have been to be the recipients of the ‘good news of the messenger of God’ giving us the experience of adopting a child and giving birth to a child, a blessing for which we are eternally grateful.

Divine Messenger,

I will carry the glad tidings

Of your abundant and abiding love

To all I meet and greet today.

Joyce Rupp