Home at last!

Joshua and Addy are home at last!

 

And our journey has just begun. Words cannot substitute for the life altering experience of adoption but I wish that I could share the depth of our joy and delight.

 

I wish that through these words I could paint you into the experience. The only way to understand the transformation we have experienced is to adopt a child yourself. I hope you will.

For years I’ve felt a strange draw to throw everything to the wind and do something impossible; something requiring pure reliance on the all sufficiency of the Lord.

We’ve now taken the plunge and found Him faithful beyond our wildest imagination. We know He will never fail us. We’ve watched His hand in action time and again throughout the effort and now we continue day by day in His strength.

Once we received travel approval, we put everything into high gear to get to China asap.

Our adoption agency did a phenomenal job, especially with the coordination on the China side. To get them as quickly as possible, we waved our rights to back out of the adoption and did back-t0-back gotcha days. Becky and Karis flew to Beijing mid-March and had a couple of days to deal with jet lag before taking the high speed train to Shijiazhuang where they picked up Joshua.

17 hours later, they were in Nanning, ready to get Addy the next morning (5 hours later!)

We were prepared for difficult times, and for a bit of time, Addy said not a word and Becky was preparing for the worst. But Addy soon broke through her nervousness and opened herself up to Becky and Karis.

Several days later they were in Guangzhou for the doctors visits and to handle the immigration paperwork. Joshua handled it all like a pro, rolling with the changes as if they were no big deal.

 

Addy struggled but came through like a champ.

While Joshua and Addy were getting their visas in order, I was flying to Guangzhou to meet them.

Someone had anonymously donated tickets for me so that I could join them at the end of the trip! What a delight to meet them.

It took a few minutes for them to warm up to me but before an hour was out, they were sitting in my lap and feeding me snacks.

Before taking them home, we took them to see a zoo and the Great Wall to give them something by which to remember their heritage.

How are they adjusting? It seems that it is almost too quick. They immediately jumped into our family as if they were always a part. Joshua and Addy both have attached themselves to their Baba just like our other five have. Addy also adores her older sister and oldest brother, often looking for them or not letting them out of her sight.

There will certainly be difficulties, and some have already occurred. I tremble deeply when I think about having to require the seat belt on the airplane. Having to hug and quietly speak words of love to a terrified child fighting for all they are worth for thirty minutes, and congratulating them afterward for doing so well… Stressful? Yes, but not because of a child’s defiance, but because of the hurt about which we know nothing. I weep over the pain. It has become mine, and I joyfully bear it for this child.

How is it that twelve months ago there was nothing but pictures, and for me, not even emotion? We started with a mere choice to act in love and paint a practical picture of God in the best way I could imagine.

Today we are both filled with a love that joyfully accepts being crushed with the burden of their suffering. How is it that I have compassion for instead of anger at a defiant child?

Thank you Madison, for requiring the reading of books and training which have prepared us for the particular challenges of adopted children.

Thank you Dr. Purvis for the Empowered to Connect simulcast that has revealed to us how trauma affects the mind and how to help such children heal.

Thank you Roepnack family for living out the example for us to see the love of Christ.

Thank you Becky, for not nagging me about adoption (or anything else!) and patiently waiting for God to prepare me for this work.

Thank You Lord, for offering to me the opportunity to be like You and to share Your boundless love to two little ones. Thank You for the love and grace to give to them.

The journey has indeed begun. There’s no turning back. We’re not even close to being the same people that left for China not too many days ago.