Merry Christmas (a bit late!) and Happy New Year….well almost! Where does time go? 2 months
ago today I boarded a plane to China for 11 of the most impactful days of my
adult life. After I got home, the
normal busyness of life set in, and I’ve been meaning to write about our last
day in China, as well as to share some big news at home since then!
I still think about China and the children I met daily, as well as our team. We had a great last day after traveling back to Beijing
for a stop on our way back home. It was a perfect way to end the trip;
strolling through a beautiful park in Beijing- taking in the fall color, crisp
air, BLUE skies, and interacting with the other park goers. We shopped, we
majorly departed our Chinese cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a
meal at McDonalds, and we laughed and enjoyed these last few moments as a team
on Chinese soil. Those 11 days had flown by, yet was plentifully filled with
many memories, moments, emotions, and amazing stories.
To be completely honest, it was hard at times during those
first couple weeks back home, and not just because of the jet lag, but because
of the effort of trying to put into words the emotions I experienced in China;
to find the words to tell the stories of the children who wait; to cull through
the hundreds of images I captured on the journey – scanning through the
precious faces of the children I played with, held, comforted, fed, and prayed
for. It’s a lot to process – more than I anticipated. Not in a bad way, just in
a thought provoking, “where do I start” kind of way.
So, just as I began I wanted to wrap up my China trip
posts with pictures, and a few words of reflections on my time with them. These children are some of those that continue to wait to be
matched with their forever families. They are amazing, wonderful, and precious
children who are currently AVAILABLE (LID only or Special Focus on the AWAA Waiting Children site), and need a family! I will have a "part two" to this post up soon as well.
"Jessa" : Sweet, clever, caring (she made sure I handed out stickers to others!), & full of personality!
"Caleb": Adorable, brave (he sung a solo!), kind, fun!
"Mia & Chloe" : Adore each other and their care givers, so sweet, precious!
"Charles": look at those cheeks! So cute!
"Brandon": playful, enjoys being held (he was so curious to look out the window), so smiley!
For more information on any of these waiting children, please
contact waitingchildren@awaa.org.
And… for our big news. Perhaps it’s obvious? :)
Paul and I have talked seriously about adopting again from
China for about a year. (Ok… maybe it was more me talking seriously, and Paul
listening ever so patiently…) Needless to say, it has definitely been on our
hearts for some time. When Paul and I were first married, I didn't see myself as the mom of a big family. (Well,
big family by my definition!) I have no idea why, because it seems natural now,
but many don’t know that we had “decided” (LOL) that our family was complete
after our 2nd child was born. We gave away the crib, changing table,
clothes, baby toys- you name it. As soon as an item was grown out of, it left
our house. Paul and I just weren’t
on the same page about adoption at the time. We had even had our first
conversation about adopting even before we had our first child biologically
(again, this was mostly me talking – for multiple years actually, and Paul
listening… ;)). It’s amazing when I look back to see the story God was weaving
all along. He was working in Paul’s heart, and mine- through it all. He removed the fear from my heart after
two difficult pregnancies and blessed us with our third child who I cannot
imagine life without. He moved mountains in Paul’s heart, and mine in His
perfect timing, and brought home our son from China in 2012. And now, still
knitting together and pursuing (isn’t He always?), we have started the process
to adopt again from China, and hope to get through our home study and dossier
process in record time to prayerfully, bring home our daughter, whoever she may
be. We are so grateful that God knows!
Again, Happy New Year! We are beyond excited for 2015…
