Friday, June 19, 2015

The Hand of God

 
 
I can honestly say that it has felt like God's hand has been on Hugh Robert's adoption from the very beginning.   The way that everything unfolded just felt like it was all in God's perfect timing.   Dava had shared with me that Hugh was leaving at the beginning of January.   He still had not been matched with a family and she was heart broken.   It was around this time that she had started to inundate me with video's and pictures of him that I was sending on to Dan.   My heart was saying yes, but I wasn't sure that I could convince Dan that he was meant to be our son.  Hugh flew out of Nashville and had a lay over in Chicago on his way back to China.   During that layover, Chicago was hit with a snowstorm and his plane was cancelled.  He had to stay the night at a local hotel with his guide and 3 other little boys.   Dava happened to message me the next day and mentioned that Hugh was stuck in Chicag!!  Whoo  hoo!!!   The only other better place to be stuck would have been Minneapolis.   Now, we had not committed to adopting Hugh yet.  We were leaning towards it but still didn't know.  Anyway, I messaged Dava back and asked if my mom, who lived 20 minutes from O'Hare airport, if she could go to the hotel and meet Hugh.   Dava immediately called the adoption agency, who then called me and said absolutely.   Now, I had to pray that my mom was not at work!  Yep, at 76 years old my mom still works at a physical therapy office.   I called and my mom answered and she didn't hesitate.  She said she would go immediately!   She didn't even know that we were thinking of adopting again but she didn't ask questions then, she knew time was of the essence.  Hugh was leaving that day at 3:00!   Hey, but the agency guide said that it was still a snow storm.  My mom laughed and asked where was she from? Texas?  Yep, she is!  And it was just flurries at that time, easy peasy!  My mom got to the hotel and we talked on the phone as she made her way up to the room.   I let her go as she met Hugh.   She said he came up to her and said "my nana!"   He wanted to be picked up but my mom had breast cancer so she can't lift.   She sat down and he crawled up on her lap instead.   She said, he went through her purse and was incredibly happy to find some tic tac's.   She then called Dan at work and face timed with him, so that he could see and meet Hugh.   Dan's co-worker GiGi walked in and said hi to Hugh also.   He looked at her and said "hi mama!"   Not yet...little one!    Then my mom called me and we face timed together.   It was wonderful!    I love how God works!  I love that my mom is and always will be a part of Hugh's adoption story.   That she is the one that was able to see and meet him first.   I have drilled my poor mom for every detail of her time with Hugh.  I almost feel like I was there with them.   The hand of God is on this little boy's life story.   I can't wait to see what unfolds in the coming years!  

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

We have a Singer!!!

I just went through all the photos and videos that Dava sent me in January.   I am realizing how incredibly special it is that Hugh was hosted in the United States and I am privy to these remarkable videos that tell me so much about his personality.   Two things really jump out at me after seeing the videos again.   This little boy, who is about to become part of our family loves music and he especially loves to sing and secondly he is incredibly secure and confident with himself.   What an odd attribute to see in a 6 year old orphan.   He is talkative, happy and loves to smile and laugh.   

Here is a video of Hue singing in a classroom at his host brothers classroom.   I can't imagine doing this at age 6 years old at my own school, but traveling literally to a foreign land and singing in front of others is amazing!






 

Friday, June 5, 2015

Changed Lives






It is amazing to think that lives can be changed by the simple strokes of a keyboard, but that is exactly what happened to our family.    I chose the picture above because it shows the passion and the love that this woman, Dava, had for a little boy that she hosted from China.   She poured her heart and soul into finding a family for this little guy...the perfect family...which turned out to be us.   I have been following a China Waiting Child Advocacy site for years.  I enjoyed seeing the children being advocated for and eventually a family popping up, saying yes, they were headed to China for that child.  At the end of December, I kept seeing a picture of a little boy, named Diego, being advocated by his host mom.   She stated things about how sweet and smart and healthy he was and how badly she wanted to find him a mom and dad to love on him.   I showed Dan the facebook posts and he told me to call her.  What???  Really???   Dava and I messaged back and forth and we spoke on the phone.   She told me that two families were coming to meet him that week.  She eventually messaged me and told me that a family was going to be matched with him.   I thought we were done, it just wasn't meant to be and God had other plans for Diego and for us.    After a few weeks, I saw that Dava was once again advocating for Diego.  The same day I received a message from Dava, saying the other family wasn't able to adopt Diego after all.  She wondered if we were still interested in finding out more about him.  Before I could even answer her message, she started sending pictures and video of him to me, every hour on the hour (a bit of an exaggeration, but she sent a lot!), which I forwarded right on to Dan who was traveling for work.    Dan eventually called me and said "we are screwed, we are adopting again, how can we leave this little guy without a family".   Whooo Hooo!!!  I couldn't believe it!!!  To me it was a no-brainer but for Dan to come to the same conclusion on his own, was a miracle in my eyes.   There were other factors that played into our decision too.   It was important for us not to adopt a child again with a lot of unknowns.  We wanted to adopt a relatively healthy child and not a baby.   Dan wanted to stay in the province that every American has to go through to get out of the country which is Guangdong.    Diego met all those conditions, so we really felt like God had his hand in this.    Diego will be renamed to Hugh Robert K!    The boys are very excited to be getting a new brother.   There will be lots more to come about our adoption!