home with updates

We are home.  Everyone seems to be transitioning just fine - except me :(  Turns out I liked vacation and coming back to my reality has not been easy.  I'm not sure I like this reality all the time.  And while the week-long break from the stresses of life here was certainly enjoyable, its been a tricky transition back home.

Our road to John Paul is all downhill now, and it seems to be speeding right along.  Our Article 5 pick up is Friday, then we are on to the final wait (travel approval from China).  We could realistically travel within a month.  Did you hear that?  A month!

While in Hong Kong we got one final update on our boy.  He's big, and strong, and looks oh-so-happy.  Apparently I'll be busy - "he climbs on chairs, beds, or tables all the time".  He is also a fan of the telephone and will hold it up to his ear and say "wei, wei" (Wei sounds like 'way' and it's how everyone here answers the phone.)

0h, and one other proof that I'll be a busy momma?  " If he is crying, you have to [be] very nice to him or hold him, otherwise, he will cry longer and louder."  

Although there is a big part of me that says "how in the world am I going to do this?  A newly adopted toddler? A 4 month old baby boy?  Three other young children?"  There is also a big part of me that says "Only the Lord God could have written this story.  Only through Him is it even conceivable that I can accomplish this."  

And there are so many other things I think too.  I am so incredibly grateful for John Paul's foster family and am already beginning to mourn with them the huge loss on their horizon as they prepare to send him to us.  It is because of them that he knows what a phone is, that he has the freedom to climb on furniture, that he realizes his tears will bring loving hands.  

While on vacation I read Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage.   It's a wonderfully horrible book.  I'm grateful that someone wrote the story of one Chinese orphanage, that the children will not be forgotten.  Oh so many horrid tragedies happening right under our noses - no one, no child should live in an institution.  

It took me a few days to decide, but I have decided that I'm glad I read it.  If anything, on the hard days, when my patience wears thin and my arms are too few and my love too conditional and my ability to extend grace woefully inadequate for the task - on those days I will remember this book, those children, and know that my "pain", my "suffering" pales in comparison to the pain and suffering in the life of an institutionalized child.