Last Christmas was extremely special for one very obvious reason: Little Bug. I had dreamed of the day we would decorate our Christmas Tree with a little one. Last Christmas was absolutely wonderful. A six-month-old beautiful baby girl. No tears from another failed cycle. Just pure gummy smiles of joy. It was Little Bug’s first Christmas and my first Christmas as a mommy.

This Christmas has been equally wonderful. Little Bug loves the “yites” (lights) and her Fisher Price Manger Scene. The excitement in her little eyes is just priceless. Our second Christmas together.

But this year, I keep thinking of another woman and another little baby who are separated by thousands of miles this Christmas season and it breaks my heart.

This woman, like me, longed to be a mother for many years. And, this Christmas season, she is a mother to a handsome little baby boy. However, she has never met her son and he has never met his mother.

While waiting for the time to travel to go get her son (which will be sometime next year), she is missing all of his firsts. His first smile, the first time he rolls over, sits up, his first tooth, his first giggle.

His first Christmas.

And her first Christmas as a mother.

Adoption is beautiful but every adoption has it’s heartache.

There is no consolation to a woman knowing her child is out there and living a world away, but I know that even though she will have missed all her son’s firsts, she will have the privilege to be the first to introduce her son to the reason we celebrate Christmas.

The birth of baby Jesus.

But even that doesn’t change the fact that her child’s first Christmas and her first Christmas as a mother will still be spent with empty arms.

Say a prayer today for all waiting families this Christmas Season.

And say an extra prayer for Becky and Joshua.

- Elaine