These photos are from 2014, taken by my incredibly talented friend, Nancy or Ordinary Miracles Photography.

12 years ago, the judge announced, “It’s a boy!” and Riley officially joined the Eschbach family.

He had been living with us for a year and a half, so this felt like a very anticlimactic necessity of what was already true.

A few months later, his very best friend, his grandmother, passed away.

Twelve years have been full of a lot of laughter and a lot of tears. We have faced the very hard diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder. We have prayed and begged for healing. But I have learned more about love because of Riley. I have learned more about the Father’s amazing, unflinching, ‘no-matter-what’ love for His children, and I am grateful.

I have fallen more deeply in love with Brian, my dear husband and leader of our family. And i’ve learned to accept help from family and neighbors in the most humbling, vulnerable ways.

Our placement counselor once told me that adoption does not happen because there are cupcakes and sprinkles. If there were cupcakes and sprinkles, we wouldn’t be sitting at that table together. I had absolutely no idea what that meant or what she was trying to say – but now, looking back, I understand. As so many others share, God knew how much I should know to get started, and He has been with me every day since.

Most importantly, I want Riley to recognize that he is loved and that God created him with a purpose – to know, love, and serve Him.