Kindness

I just can't really express how much I LOVE this quote.  I have loved it for a long time, but it means even more now because every time I look at it, I think of Julie.  I can't explain how humbling it is for me to be on the receiving end of such an act of kindness.  Really, I'm not sure you could call selflessly offering to carry a child for 9 months and then give birth to said child without asking for a solitary thing in return merely KINDNESS, but I honestly don't know what else to call it.

It convicts me for sure.  I have always thought of myself as a kind person - but in today's world it is very rare to find someone who genuinely doesn't want ANYTHING in return.  Someone who does the right or kind thing simply because it's the right thing to do.  I want to be that to people I encounter each day.  I pray that my students see that in me.  I pray that the grocery clerk thinks that of me when I walk away.  I am so in awe of Julie.  She has been thru hell and back in this process so far - blood draws, medicines, shots, 45 minute drives across town multiple times per day - you name it, she's done it.  And she has never one time made me feel like she is being put out.  In fact, she's never made me feel anything besides that she is happily going about the business of making Kevin & I a baby.  I know that my calling is not to be a surrogate for another family - but I have prayed many times in the past few months that whatever my calling is in this world, that I can do it with the loving kindness that Julie has shown me through this process so far.

Most of all, I pray that I can instill this quality in my children one day.  I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to share this real life example of pure and intentional kindness with them.  I am hopeful that my miracle(s) will be someday be a constant and living reminder to anyone who knows the story of their conception and birth that kindness still exists in this world today and it's power transcends all else.

Never underestimate the power of kindness.