Ten years ago, there was a baby on the other side of the world who had no mother and father to take care of her. She was helpless. Being just a baby, she didn’t know she was helpless but she was. Her basic needs were met by other people. She was unaware of anything missing.
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| These were the first photos given to us of her. I carried them with me and had a copy by my bed! |
At the same time, Wayne and I wanted a baby very much. We had a long list of things to do before we would hold a baby in our arms, but we made the effort because we wanted so badly to grow our family. We found and hired an agency, met with a social worker multiple times, had medical tests taken, filled out tons of paperwork, spent a lot of money, and took parenting classes. We prepared a room for her, all girly and pink! We applied for visitor’s visas, were given shots for traveling, arranged childcare for Will, packed our suitcases, flew in an airplane for 16 hours and continued to check items off the list as we went along. We were motivated to do all this because we loved this baby before we even knew her. We did all the work while the baby spent her days not even knowing what we were doing for her.
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| It looks like a pink bomb exploded in here! Can you tell we were excited to get a girl?! |
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| After being an only child for almost 7 years, Will was excited to become a big brother. We threw him a special party before we left for China. |
The day finally came for us and baby to meet. We lovingly held her, rocked her and spoke soothing words of comfort. Si Rou screamed in defiance. She did not know us - we were strangers. What we spoke to her was a foreign language she did not recognize. The baby cried out for the life she knew. She didn’t immediately respond to the love that was freely given to her.
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| Seriously don't know why my hair was so big. It would be the last time I'd be able to style it for the rest of the trip. |
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| This was the look - broke my heart! She was so scared. |
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| Finally she cried! I tried to explain to her that once she gives us a chance, she'll see we're really awesome people. Practically everyone likes us! :) |
We were heartbroken that she did not return the love we were giving her, but we understood. We continued to hold and care for her, often singing or murmuring soft words of comfort. We tried our best to be patient. Meanwhile, the adoption became official and we gave her a new name, Hosanna, and a new family name. She was now ours. She was loved. We became a family.
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| It's official! She's all ours!! |
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| What a ceremony! We had a really great travel group and it was comforting to go through it together. One couple received twins! |
Then one day something wonderful happened! Hosanna responded to this outpouring of love and care with a smile! She started to resist less frequently the affection shown to her. She didn’t decide to love us back; she reacted to what was already there, planted by the seeds of love and watered with the repeated care and dependability that we showed her.
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| Precious girl!! |
This is a personal story about how my daughter, born in China, came to be part of my family. But it can also be a story about how our Heavenly Father adopted each of us into His family.
There was a time we were helpless. We didn’t have the eyes of faith to know that we were dead in sin. John 8:47, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” Maybe life seemed fine! Especially if our felt needs were being met and things were going seemingly well, we may not have known what it was we were even missing!
Regardless of when you came to faith, God was busy doing all the work. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 He made us! He lovingly fashioned us before we even met another human being! I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness. Jeremiah 31:3 Before the world was even made, he knew his children. What comfort to know that he loved me and planned for me to be brought into his family and live with him eternally. Maybe there wasn’t paperwork and forms to fill out, but there was a plan. This plan included sending his own Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life for me on earth, suffer for my sins on the cross and triumph over death and the devil so that I have the assurance of eternal life in heaven.
Ten years ago, it was hard for my husband and me to be patient wanting so much for the child we loved to love us back. How much more is God so very patient with us! We were so relieved when our persistence paid off and we received the smile, laugh and cuddle that we so longed for because we knew that her response was a reaction to love already there! Likewise, when we respond to the love of our God who relentlessly and patiently pursues us, we are reacting to the faith already given to us by the Spirit. We can’t help but smile, laugh and cuddle in his waiting arms!
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| Godmother Karen made her pretty dress. |
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| A member from church made her a personalized baptism banner. |
Sometimes we are infants when brought into God’s family; I was. Maybe you were days, even hours old when you were brought to the font of baptism and washed with water and the Word. Just because you were too young to intellectually know what was happening, you were being adopted into the family of Jesus. His Father became your Heavenly Father. Your name now became “child of God”. Your citizenship became not of this world anymore but you became fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. (Ephesians 3:19b).
You may have walked many days, even years apart from God before being brought into his family. Maybe you rejected many invitations to attend church. Maybe you tried to hold on the life you knew. God’s Word may have sounded like a foreign language. You may not have responded right away to the love so freely given to you. But slowly a change began and you started to believe because faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
There may come a day when our daughter might wonder where it is she really belongs. She will become more aware that she looks different than the family she lives with. She may doubt that we really have the ability to love her as we would a biological child. She may question if she’s even worthy enough to have been given this family who had made such an effort to pursue her and make her theirs.
If and when this happens, we will reassure her with our words and remind her of our faithfulness to her over the years. We will look at the official adoption papers that legally state that she is our daughter. We will pull out the photo albums and relate to her the experiences we went through to get to her. She can objectively know that her fears are unwarranted - she is our daughter in every way. She can rest knowing that she is where she belongs even when her emotions cause her to doubt.
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| Big brother waiting at the airport |
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| After a LONG flight,we finally arrive home back where we belong - all four of us! |
We may have times in our lives when we doubt God’s love. We may wonder: “Can Jesus really forgive me?” “Am I still a part of His family?” “Am I worthy enough to hold onto this gift?” It’s at those times that we can look to the Word and be reminded of what Jesus has done for us. In his Word, we are reminded of His faithfulness and promises. We can look at our baptismal certificate and be reminded that our sins have been washed away and He’s made us worthy to wear His robe of righteousness. We have been baptized in His name. We are loved. We are a part of His family. We can objectively know that our fears are unwarranted - we are His sons and daughters in every way! We can rest knowing that we belong even when our emotions cause us to doubt.
For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and good will … In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us … Ephesian 1:4-5, 7,8a
The reality is that adoption comes from broken - broken dreams, broken bodies, broken hearts, broken people and a broken world. Adoption was not part of God’s original, perfect design. Parents were supposed to raise their children and children were supposed to be cared for by their parents. Every man and woman’s body was supposed to procreate and every man and woman were supposed to provide for their own. But sin happened and our reality is what we have now. Adoption is the answer. Adoption allows a child to be loved and cared for, and adoption allows the love of parents to pour out on a child they wouldn’t otherwise have as their own.
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| Visiting the jade factory |
Our spiritual adoption in baptism came from broken, too. The need for baptism wasn’t part of God’s original design either. It was after the fall into sin that we so desperately needed a plan that would unite us back to Him because we were now broken and apart from Him. Lord Save Us!! Adoption was the answer. Through the saving work of Jesus, baptism was His plan to bring us back to Him so we could be a part of HIs family again and receive all the benefits of being His children!
I hope to continue to talk with my daughter about both her adoptions. Yes, she was parentless shortly after being brought into this world. But the hand of God is seen in how quickly she was found, in the temporary but caring home she was given with a foster family, and how she became a part of our family. God knew we would bring her to the font of baptism, that her forever family would teach her about the great, big love of Jesus, and that He would use our family to make her a member of His.
It's hard to remember a time she wasn't one of our family! Praise God for the gift of adoption!!!
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| My motto was "what happens in China stays in China". Baby ate french fries and slept in my bed - look at her, how could I say no? |
