Each day Joe and I are moving forward and continuing to heal. I do believe that our strength is coming from above, but Joe’s faith has been shaken by all of the events that have taken place. I pray hard for him and I do believe that all of the prayers for us have been heard and I am thankful for the faith others offered when ours was broken. Stephen is a very good, healthy cutie and I can’t emphasize enough how strong and determined he is. Hmmm…a strong willed child? I can’t believe God thought we would be the right parents for Him - lol. He is a beautiful child and we feel blessed to have him as our son in spite of all the pain we have had to endure to get to this point. I wish I could post pictures of his beautiful smile for all to see, but it is just not possible right now.
We were so happy to see another couple that we met here in the car this morning holding their son getting ready to leave the orphanage forever. They were beaming! Their baby boy, Connor, is just precious and Mom and Dad were feeling on top of the world to finally be leaving together as a family. It was uplifting to see the joy that is just around the corner for us. I am sure words cannot express the relief of knowing you never have to come “visit” your child anymore. I also pray that by some miracle the waiting period is waived after court and we can take Stephen away from there. Dr. Natalia and all of the caretakers took us by surprise with the depth of empathy and love they surrounded us with these past few days. All of the caretakers were heartbroken for us and want us to have the child “destined” to be ours. Although we do not speak their language…hugs are universal. We are so impressed with Dr. Natalia’s professionalism and ability to maintain a deep personal love and affection for each of the children in the orphanage and a respect for the parents who are there to adopt them. I wish every orphanage had a woman like her in charge.
Orson and Nigmat have provided great support and encouragement to us as well. They truly went above and beyond to make sure we were united with our son and I am thankful for their determination. I have so much more to say about Orson and AIP and the entire process, but it will be another day for all of that. All I will say for now is that when you are here in Kazakhstan and you see firsthand the intricacies and the bureaucracy involved it makes things much, much clearer.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Continuing to Heal
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15 comments:
My thoughts and prayers are with you, and I am sending you affirmations from afar, as I'm sure so many others are. International adoption is difficult, but part of the joy is to know that you are part of a strong and loving community.
Susan (adopted Nina, 2004, from Almaty, with Orson and AIP).
It's good to hear that the healing, although slow, is taking place. You have so many people praying for you and supporting you and your family - we hope you continue to feel it half way across the world! We have a very strong-willed child as well -2 really, so we'll have to talk :-) I'm glad you are feeling supported by Orson and AIP!
Dawn, your words are such an encouragement to me. When you didn't post anything yesterday, I was praying for you and trusting that nothing else had gone wrong, my whole body was on hyper-alert and I just could not relax enough to nod off. I was up til 4 a.m.-- but now I AM SO HAPPY for you that the orphanage and our agency, especially Orson, are helping you through this. I wish I could hug you too! We will be in Ust probably the week of March 26. I hope I get to hug you then and meet your new darling boy. These words just came to mind right now, "Put a new song in my mouth of praises to you Lord..." Bless you! What strength you have! Stephanie H.
I have been praying for you as well from here. Healing is slow but adoption is one big process of healing. Hurry up and wait, go here, no go there. The poor children in orphanages waiting to find forever families, hurting as well. God does set His hand on every adoption, and He will be with you all the way back home. I agree with Susan about the adoption community. I also know the joys and challenges of a strong-willed child. We adopted two with Orson and AIP from Almaty region back in 2004. Both are strong-willed and precious, and God's chosen children for our family. I am glad (now) that I followed His will and accepted the many changes and struggles. I will continue to pray for you, for Joe, and for little Stephen, that God brings you home together as a family as quickly as possible.
Continuing to pray for you all.
Dawn, Joe and little Stephen....I am so happy for you....I too got a little concerned yesterday when there was no post and prayed it did not mean anything....but healing coming for you....I am so thankful that once again I can sense joy in you again and the three of you will be so happy and this will one day all make sense. I am so happy to hear you are getting love and support from the orphanage and your agency....you needed that with us so far away. Many blessings and joy to you.
I am so releived to hear you are healing and moving on with your forever family. It does take time. Positive thoughts go out to you all.
Thank You Lord! My prayers continue to be with you!
Kristan
I am so glad you are back. I am happy prayers have been answered and you are a family. I pray the judge waives the waiting period!
Great news.! Laughed about your comment that your little guy is strong willed!! I remember Orin's care taker saying the one thing she would always remember about him was how calm and good natured he was!!! We often laugh at the memory and say we wish she could see him now, when he throws one of his temper fits because he is not getting his own way!! I like to think that strong will and stubborn streak helped him survive his time in the BH.
So good to hear a positive note from you.
I'm glad things are going better and healing is beginning. Stephen sounds like a wonderful little boy! Prayers are still going up for continued healing and bonding.
It's so wonderful to hear that healing is taking place, I'm sure once you are all home the picture God was painting will be clear...it's just a pain to not "know" what He is planning, esp for someone like me who is a "list" kind of girl. :-)
Strong willed, huh? well we have 2 of those. :-) Love em like crazy but some days I really wish they would just take a break. LOL They said Gunnar was a calm child, not so much now, this kid isn't 13 months old yet & he LOVES to make Jabari scream. They both throw a fit if they don't get their way, you know those kids you see at the store pitching a fit & fighting etc. & go "oh my, where are their parents & why don't they do something", that would be my 2 cuties. :-)
I can't wait till we get to see your son's face. I'm praying for all of you.
Hugs
ann
I'm glad to hear that you are both healing slowly. I've been saying some extra prayers for you and have asked for some extra prayers from church as well. May you both continue to feel supported through the rest of the process and enjoy each moment with Stephen. I look forward to the day when you can post some pictures.
I know what you mean about everything you are saying...but when you get home....just leave it all behind you. Focus all your energy into your son........you wont regret it. The day you get on that plane to come with him.....just start new and focus on all positive energy. Your son needs it. I am still thinking of you every day, hoping for a smooth ride from here on out. Love, Tam
OMGOSH you have been in my thoughts. For some reason blogger does not like me and has not let me post in several days. It would not give me visual verification :(
Anyway I wrote but could not post one really long post all but begging you to stay the course. Long story short I shared my failed adoption story detail by sad detail and information about the beautiful family I was blessed with in the end. My summary was how glad I was I did not let losing one baby stop me.
I am so glad you are hanging in there. I think once you realize that things can go wrong you protect your heart a tiny bit the second time around. I think your head makes your heart wait until you pass a few legal hurtles.
There is a part of your heart that will forever be reserved for the child you lost, but an even bigger part of your heart is going to be healed beyond belief. You are going to be sitting at home someday wondering how the heck you got os lucky.
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