Twenty years ago in April, my husband and I went to Moscow to adopt a beautiful little Russian girl, Natasha. The trip and the adoption changed the trajectory of our lives. I had a baby boy more than 10 years prior, who was happy and healthy and the joy of our lives. I wasn't sure what God was calling us to. But 10 years of infertility led us to expand our family through adoption.

Despite the sadness and loss of never getting pregnant again, we were able to open our hearts and our home to a child in an orphanage in Moscow. None of us will ever be the same! God has knit my son’s and daughter’s hearts together too.

There is a children's story we love, The Best Mistake Ever. It's about how a mistake was turned into a celebration. Our years of infertility, which felt like a huge mistake, turned into a time of celebration for our family. The story of our adoption could be called, "God's Plan A for the Ciancio Family." Isn't it just like God to surprise us by taking our grief and redeeming it with joy and love and life? If you're struggling with a loss right now it could be that God hasn't redeemed it yet.