He Sets the Lonely in Families....

Spiderman!!!


Checking out the teeter totter!


Back at the Center for questions and pictures


Checking out the toys at "gotcha day"--
He has the cute Elvis thing going on!!! :>) :>)


Cute boy, cute outfit, but we have
rectified the pink shoes issue!!!


As soon as he sees the camera, he gives the "V"
for victory sign, as do many of the Chinese kids.


Joshua's ayi (nanny) poses for a picture with us.


The "waiting room" begins to fill with families
soon to meet their new children.


Waiting, and waiting, and waiting!!!


Russell with the thing we labeled Gumby in
Shaghai, about 28 hours into our 34 hour +/- trip!



Yes, we do in fact have Joshua with us as of about 2:30 Monday afternoon (Chinese time)!!!!! Sorry I have not been able to get to the computer prior to now, but all is well and I will fill you in on the details!


First, he is quite the little man!!!! He is polite, tidy, friendly, funny and hasn't given us one moment's trouble so far! We definitely see a little mischievousness in his eyes at times, so have no illusion that at some point we will see that side as well! He is bigger than expected (what I expected, anyway!), so Jeremy will truly have a bigger brother!!! It is strange to have a "new" child who already is quite capable of taking care of most of his needs!!! He can do all of the day-to-day stuff and last night, as soon as he got out of the tub and got his jammies on, he politely went over, got into his bed and pulled up the covers--never a tear... He helped me cleanup from supper without being asked (daughters, take note!!!), turns off the lights when we leave the room, neatly puts his shoes away, as well as his toys, shares, and cleans off his face and the table when he is done eating!!!!! I, obviously, can take no credit for any of it!!! And while it all sounds heavenly (and it is!), it is also, at least in part due to growing up in an institution and learning to please people to "survive" as well as possible, and he will have to learn how to just be himself and be a little boy, which (unfortunately!) means the "perfection" will fade with time if he is really adjusting well... Hopefully, he will continue to have the desire to be a "good boy" even when he is more relaxed with who he is and he will have the best of both worlds.


The actual meeting of Joshua was VERY different than Jeremy. For Jeremy, he and the other little girl from the orphanage were brought to our hotel and we saw them first in the lobby, then went into a conference room for time with the babies and the people from the orphanage who did paperwork, answered questions, etc. THIS time, was the scene I had heard described by others who have adopted from China. MANY families in a holding area waited for their children to be brought to them--no privacy, no discretion. The tension was palpable, as families watched the children being carried into the office by their nannies, sometimes seeing their own, but unable to go to them at that moment. Some women cried, some men wore their shades indoors to hide emotions.... When we arrived there were only 2-3 other families, but as time went on the room filled with people. Then, at some predetermined moment, nannies started "delivering" children to waiting parents. The couple next to us got their daughter first. She was around 3, and she screamed and cried and kicked when she was handed to her new mom--she was terrified and her heart was breaking, that was clearly evident. Needless to say, that did it for me and my composure.... After that, the children started being handed of fast and furiously, and our little Joshua bravely walked up with his nanny. He said hello shyly, and his nanny instructed him to come give me a kiss , which he did.. He liked the Fruit Loop bribes that we had come prepared with, and even smiled a little as he played with the cars and other toys we brought, but as we were there longer, and the number of screaming babies and weeping parents and nannies, increased, it was hard not to be affected by them. One of the young babies near us wailed silently--I cannot describe it adequately. To look at her her, she was crying as hard and as desperately as any human I have ever seen, but there was not a single sound coming out of her mouth.... The room was such a mix of raw emotions--families who were joy-filled at meeting long awaited children, but at the same time broken-hearted for the loss and fear that brought these kids to them; nannies whose job it is to take care of these babies, glad that they have homes, but broken-hearted that they will never see them again, and the kids themselves,most too young to understand this seemingly terrible thing that is happening to them, but knowing that it feels unbelievably scary, and that feeling seems verified by everything they are witnessing around them......being handed off to complete strangers, who look strange, smell strange, sound strange and having the one familiar person in the room betray you by walking away and leaving you there.....again. It is only by the grace of God that these kids survive it at all. As we got ready to leave and Joshua sensed we were separating from his caregiver, he tried to back away and did not want to be held by Russell, screaming and crying "AYI, , AYI, AYI!" as we carried him away from her. Yeah, real tough............



As we were there, I just felt this overwhelming sense of "This is NOT right! How can this happen over and over, day after day? How can God let this go on and on???" Truth is, I am not God, and I don't know how or why. I do know it is a fallen world, and as much as it pains me, it must pain Him infinitely more... He is sovereign. He is trustworthy. Blessed be the name of the Lord.