I WAS CHOSEN
By Susan Alexander Yates and Allison Yates Gaskin

It was time for bed and I really didn't mind too much. It meant Mommy would smooth my sheets and crawl in my bed with me. I'd snuggle in her arms and she'd rub my hair and tell me how special I was and how much she loved me. If it wasn't too late and Mommy wasn't too tired I might get to hear The Story before we said our prayers.Mommy would begin by saying.

"Your Daddy and I always wanted a baby. We wanted one for so long, and we kept praying that I would get pregnant and have a baby. But after several years when I didn't get pregnant, we began to realize that God had something even better for us. He decided that He was going to give us a very special baby --- a baby that another lady was not able to take care of.

"Mommy, tell me about the day you got me.""Well, Tucker," she would continue, "that was the most exciting day in my life. It began when the telephone rang... 'Mrs. Freeman, your beautiful little baby girl has just been born. Would you like to come see her?'"We hurried to the hospital...stood outside the window where all the new babies were. When we got to the end of the row of babies...you turned your head and looked at us and seemed to smile.You have always been such a gift to us. Why, the smartest thing Daddy and I ever did in our lives was to adopt you!"

Each time Mother told me The Story she got excited. She never tired of telling it, and I never got tired of hearing her tell it. From the beginning she made me feel that being adopted was tremendously special, that I had somehow been chosen.When I was seven months pregnant with my own child, my mother came to visit. It was one of those really uncomfortable days, and the baby was kicking non-stop. As I groaned and held my stomach, my mother said, "It must be amazing to feel her kick." Suddenly, it dawned on me that my mother had never felt a baby inside her womb.

"Mother," I said, "come and put your hands on my stomach, I want you to feel your grandchild."The look of awe on my mother's face as she felt her granddaughter kick in the womb was so precious for me. I realized that I was able to give my mother a gift she had not been able to experience personally. She had given me so many gifts and finally I was able to share a very personal one with her.