Last week was rough all the way around.

It started with Sweet Pea’s horrible days (tummy-wise) on Monday and Tuesday and then on Wednesday we figured out she had not had Gripe Water in over a day.

We immediately stocked up on the stuff and it has been in her bottles ever since, but it is almost like she is still recovering from those two awful days.

I have really struggled with anger towards the drugs that did this to my baby. While it would be easy to blame Sweet Pea’s birth mother, I know she is not the one at fault when you look at the big picture.

Sure Melody took methadone knowing she was pregnant and it has greatly affected Sweet Pea.

But the reason Melody took the methadone was not so that the baby growing in her womb would have a very difficult start to life. She took the methadone because of her drug addictions.

Satan has a stronghold on her life with this drug addiction and where there are strongholds that Satan is responsible for, ugly things happen.

I have to remind myself if it wasn’t for the drug addiction, Sweet Pea wouldn’t be my daughter. In a perfect world Melody would not have made the detrimental choices that have lead her to a life of drug addiction, instead of being a mother to her baby.

We don’t live in a perfect world. (News flash.)

God, in His great mercy, created a plan of redemption for Melody and Sweet Pea: adoption. It’s the next best option to there being no sin in life and, as a result, no need for adoption plans.

That is why God Himself needed an adoption plan for humanity. We sinned. God needed a way to redeem us back to Himself. He sent His one and only son, Jesus, to pay for our sins on the cross of Calvary and then, to anyone who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior of their life, God adopts them to His family. And, as if there was never any sin, we inherit everything of God’s: his character and His kingdom that He has gone on ahead of us to prepare.

I am thankful for adoption.

I just hate seeing an innocent baby suffer. It really frustrates me to see such a sweet baby going through all this because of drug exposure in the womb.

I have to keep things in perspective and realize this is not a life sentence for Sweet Pea. She will recover – in time. All this will pass. This is just a season of my life – a difficult season of my life, a challenging season of my life – but, it is just a season. Which means, like summer is fading into fall, this tummy-season will fade into the next season.

And all this will be behind us.

But, I am just being honest here, this is very difficult and sometimes the days seem so long and I wonder if she will ever get over all this!

Some days, I wonder if I will make it!

There is a misconception out there that people who adopt have a perfect life with no more struggles once that baby is in their arms. That is so not true. Many adoptive moms are caught off guard when their struggles to have a baby turn into parenting struggles once that baby comes home! I fell into that trap once Little Bug was home. I thought life would be perfect because I finally had my baby, but there was just a new set of challenges before me: first time mommy struggles!

I know I felt like I couldn’t “complain” for fear of people thinking I wasn’t grateful for the miracle I had been given.

Now, I know. Parenting is hard work and it is okay to admit that you are struggling – no matter how you became a parent!

A baby born through infertility treatments or through adoption is still a baby who is going to give their parents a challenge, here and there, or maybe, all the time! And it is okay to admit you are struggling.

That is what I am doing right now: I am admitting I am struggling through this. It is hard. I want this phase over with. I want my baby’s tummy to recover. I don’t want to see her have one more spell.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

I have overcome the world. God has already overcome all of this!! We have troubles because sin entered the world, but God has already overcome the world. That verse does not say He will overcome the world. It says he already has.

Which means this drug problem has already been overcome and it is temporary.

So I need to take heart and keep my perspective there instead of allowing Satan to make me think this is never going to end.

Because it will.

*****

Don’t miss the 2nd Q&A post below this one!

- Elaine