A Joyful Heart is Good Medicine

One of the best (and worst) things about adopting is hearing comments from different people. So far we've been blessed with mostly positive comments, which I am very thankful for! I thought I'd share one that particularly stuck out to me the other day...

Recently I made the mistake of filling out an online survey saying that I was possibly interested in pursuing more education some day. I wasn't being very serious when I took the survey, and didn't think that it would result in anything!

Well, it turns out that they do take that seriously. I received phone calls about 6 times a day from different schools trying to talk me into entering their program. For a while I was ignoring any calls I didn't recognize, but then I finally decided that I'd just talk to them and tell them I wasn't interested anymore. Usually, the spiel went something like this:

College Counselor Person: I'm calling from such-and-such a college and we saw that you recently filled out a survey indicating that you are interested in our so-and-so program, is that correct?

Me: Well, I was only slightly interested at the time that I filled out the survey, but right now I don't think it's going to work because we are pursuing adoption and I won't have the time or money for schooling.

College Counselor Person: Oh, I see. Well, if you ever decide to further your education, please keep such-and-such a college in mind for your future. Thank you so much. Goodbye.

To be honest, I was surprised that it usually went so quickly! But yesterday's conversation had a joyful twist....

When I mentioned that we were pursuing adoption, instead of giving me the generic "Oh, I see" answer, he exclaimed, "That's great! Congratulations!" And then went on to ask if we were adopting an infant and if it would be a boy or girl. I chatted with him for a bit and before he said goodbye he encouraged me to keep things as open as possible and said that he was very happy for us and wished us the best.

It was such an unexpected blessing in my day to have this complete stranger be excited for us...and it really put a smile on my face and on Joe's when I shared it with him!