Beijing

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With the Beckers at the Forbidden City
Unfortunately our internet access has been spotty so I have not gotten to update as regularly as I was initially planning.  However, we did arrive in Beijing safely and have spent the last 48 hours touring the city as we attempt to adjust to the 12 hour time difference.   On Friday, we visited Tiananman's Square, The Forbidden City, and Summer Palace with another couple, the Beckers. The Beckers are adopting a little girl from the same orphanage as Luke so we will be walking through this entire 16 day experience with them side by side, and boy are we thankful for that!  In God's sovereignty, they only live about 1.5 hours from us in South Carolina, so we are already looking forward to getting the kids together for play dates

Summer Palace
Today, we met the Adams and the Matthews, two other couples who are also adopting through our agency but are adopting from an orphanage in Beijing so just flew in late last night.  With them, we visited the Great Wall and the 2008 Beijing Olympic venues.

It has been so neat to hear everyone's stories and realize how God has used difference experiences in each of our lives to lead us to adoption.

The Great Wall
For Kanhka and I, we had each done work independently oversees in college (me in Ghana and Kanhka in Ethiopia) that had sparked our desires to adopt.  Seeing the overwhelming need of orphans in impoverished countries is life changing.  Not everyone will be called to adopt them, but it is undeniably transformative.  For us, it wasn't until after a 2 year struggle with infertility that adoption became a serious discussion.  We had completed all the medical fertility work-ups, and with no biological reason that we were unable conceive, we decided that maybe the Lord was telling us it was time to adopt instead.  So we filled out our adoption application in April of 2013, and the very next month.... got pregnant.   Over and over again though, the verse from Psalm 37:4 kept playing in my head: "Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."  I truly felt that we had delighted in the Lord's calling for us to adopt, and as such he had also given us the desire of our heart to have biologic children too.  The pregnancy didn't deter us, and we pushed forward with paperwork.  Lots and lots of adoption paper work.  We finally had it all signed, sealed, and delivered to China (in the adoption world this is called "Logged In", and you are officially eligible to be matched with a  child.  We were "logged in" June of 2015 and the very next month....got pregnant.  Now with two biologic children, we still felt a strong calling to adopt.  So here we are, with a 3 year old and a 17 month old at home, and getting ready to add a 2 year old to the mix. We realize this is not the typical adoption strategy for most families, but we know this is the plan the Lord had for our family.  The two pregnancies, the multiple closings of the Ethiopia program where we started out initially, as well as other fits and starts have all brought us here, to our son, in China.

Tomorrow morning (Saturday evening in the US), we get on a plan and fly to Shaanxi province where Luke's orphanage is located.  And tomorrow afternoon we get to meet our son!   I have been thinking about this day a lot for the past month.  As excited as we are to meet him and welcome him into our family, I can not help be sad for him too.  While we know he is gaining a family that loves him and will care for him, all he will see at first are strangers who look and talk differently than everything he is use to up until now.  He will be taken away from his friends and loving nannies and the place he has called home for the last two years.  It will undoubtedly be traumatizing.  And in some ways, more so than when he was abandoned.  Please pray with us that he will find comfort and peace in our arms.  Also pray for the nannies who have loved him and will be sad to see him leave.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
 


Comments

  1. Andy and SherylOctober 14, 2017 at 9:41 AM

    Love this story and how the Lord has weaved Luke's story with yours. Revel in the holy ground tomorrow as he is placed in your arms forever. Praise Jesus for the work He has done and will do! We're rooting for you three in that precious, yet difficult moment. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. the hammocksOctober 15, 2017 at 6:45 AM

    We are praying and rejoicing with you guys! Praying for a smooth transition, where Luke feels overwhelmingly loved and safe.

    ReplyDelete

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