Fifteen years ago, life looked a whole lot different.
My husband and I had been married for five years. We were in the thick of infertility struggles with no answers and no end in sight. We decided a Hawaii trip for Thanksgiving was in order to get away from life for a while and give ourselves a bit of a reset. We did a lot of dreaming and praying on that trip, hoping that God would answer our long awaited prayers for a family.
On our trip, we stumbled upon Makena Beach and when we left the beach that day I remember telling him that I really liked that name and if God were to ever bless us with a little girl I thought we should name her Makena. When we discovered the meaning of the name, “gift of happiness”, we were sold. I continued to dream that dream. Recently, I even found a prayer journal with Makena Best scribbled in the margin. I can remember vividly where I was sitting when I wrote it too; at the same hotel I’m sitting in right now, listening to the same ocean waves crashing in the distance.
Fast forward fifteen years and my heart is just exploding tonight. This is one of those full circle moments in life. The moments where you can clearly see God’s hand at work and I couldn’t be more full of thanksgiving. As we prepared to depart on our flight to Hawaii, my eyes filled with tears staring at Makenna and remembering that day at Makena Beach. Today, as we walked onto Makena Beach, hand in hand, it was so awesome to be able to share this full circle moment with my girl.
What is so crazy to me is that God knew this outcome the entire time. He knew as I jotted in my prayer journal 15 years ago that these sweet kiddos had already been created and He was saving them just for us. He knew that His plans for our family were so much better than anything we could hope or dream. He knew He would knock our socks off with not only a Makenna, but an Alex too!
The best part was the smile on MaKenna’s face the entire day. She loves hearing the story about us at Makena Beach. She was in heaven today soaking in all of the love. We laid around, we jumped in the waves, we walked on the beach and we saw the most amazing sunset. But, best of all, we remembered what a good God we serve and that even in the midst of trials and pain He is so faithful.
Tonight we are all smiling a little bigger. We are thankful we could take this trip together as a family to celebrate all the ways God has blessed us.