I have been so excited to make this hat.

I made it for my dear friend Melissa‘s new son, Levi. Melissa and her husband Daniel are high school friends of mine who have been waiting to adopt a son or daughter for nearly two years now. They have a 3.5 year old biological son, but felt called to adopt when it came time to think about baby #2. Their wait has been long and sometimes very difficult, and Melissa and I have spent a lot of time talking through these issues — the waiting (for both of us), the desire to grow our families, things being unexpected and out of our control, and the challenges of maintaining faith through all of those closed doors and roadblocks.

So I was overjoyed last week to find out that their son was finally coming home — imagine how much more excited they were! I haven’t met him yet, but his pictures show Levi to be a sweet four-week-old little boy with a family who loves him and has prayed for him for years. I can’t wait to hold him myself and I’m so excited that we will both have sons so close in age!

Melissa’s unwavering faith in the face of a lot of disappointment and uncertainty has been both a challenge and an encouragement to me. And when I first told her that I was pregnant, I added that I hoped she brought her baby home before I did because I needed her to pave the way for me. But admittedly as my due date got closer and closer, I began to doubt that it would happen — and in fact, I was sure it wouldn’t. The fact that it did — that God answered both of our prayers for this in such a beautiful and dramatic way — shouldn’t be a surprise to me, but it is. O me of little faith!

I made several baby hats out of this bamboo yarn last fall for a craft sale Melissa and Daniel hosted to raise funds for their adoption — so to be able to make one for their own new baby was such a joy. I hope he likes wearing it as much as I liked knitting it!