A Father's Thoughts

Well I just returned from Band Camp 2007 and it was a successful camp!!! It was very hard to leave the family this time, but once I got to camp and was busy with work, the time flew by. I arrived home at about 7:00 PM on Sunday evening and was surprised to see that Ally had not forgotten me and seemed to pick up just where we left off. I was concerned that after being gone for 3 days, she would treat me as a stranger.

I have to say that this adoption was an amazing experience. As many of you know Lucy has had this on her heart for over 6 years now. During the trip I thanked her for not giving up on me and I am so glad that she did not. I can not imagine missing this little girl. I heard other people say during the wait that you have to wait so that the right little girl is chosen for your family. I would kind of roll my eyes and shrug it off. They would also say that once you have her, the long wait would be forgotten. Again that really did not help. I wouldn’t say the wait has been forgotten, but definitely validated and confirmed that we needed to wait for “this little girl”.

I don’t know why things have slowed so much for adoptions in China. No one seems to know the answer. I did have a thought on the issue though. As I sat at the US consulate with about 60 other families who adopted special needs children: I realized that these children may be the reason. There was one boy who was crippled who must have been about 12. I doubt he would have had a family consider him if the wait had been so short. I could not help but think that if these children were not adopted by families in the U.S., they would have been begging on the street like many crippled people that we saw. We talked to one family in the playroom at the White Swan from Maryland. Their little boy’s foot was turned completely backwards, but he could walk and even run. The father said that the boy will not even need surgery. He will have a series of casts that will slowly turn his foot back around. WOW!! There were numerous clef palates and lips, hepatitis B, etc. I know Lucy and I never considered anything but a perfectly healthy child when we started this process. The long wait caused us to start looking at the waiting child lists. I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we would agree that if the wait for a healthy child was back to 6-8 months, many of these children would still be sitting in orphanages. They may have never gotten their families.

It is hard to express how I feel about this little girl. I have so enjoyed watching her fall in love with our family. I can not believe how quickly we have gained her trust and love. Her world was turned upside down and her days became her nights. She traveled almost 30 hours with some people she knew a little over a week and yet still loves us. All I can say is that this adoption was a gift from God and I am so thankful that I did not miss it.