I love you to China and back...

So there's this little boy... and he's never known a family... and he doesn't have his momma or baba, no grandparents or siblings... 

 ...and he lives on the 13th floor of a big building with many other children and he rarely leaves this building.

... he has seen other children leave with the director to go meet their moms and dads... he has seen these children come back with their moms and dads and families to say goodbye... 

...and about a year ago an orphanage director had him and his friend stand in front of an American dad with a video camera and say “hello” and count, and recite a poem... and he knew why he was doing this... he knew he was waiting for a family to adopt him...that he had no family coming for him, and the orphanage was hoping a family would see him and chose him... 

...but it wouldn't be just any family, it would be HIS family. Let me ask you.... How did WE get so lucky? Because I don't think we chose him, I believe he was chosen for us. And I don't think that we should adopt him,
I believe that we are supposed to.

For those who haven't heard, we received Travel Approval from the Chinese government on my birthday, June 3^rd. Our consulate appointment, which is the “last stop” in the process in China, is set for July 8^th. We will get Joshua on Monday June 30^th . In our arms forever. We will hopefully be allowed to go visit the orphanage on Wednesday July 2^nd. So he can say goodbye.

I realized the other day that the video that drew me to Joshua was taken on Wednesday July 3^rd last year. Orphanage boys video

Almost exactly one year to the day since he stood in front of that camera, he will be our son. What a difference a year makes. And on top of that the boy standing next to him in the video, his friend... well, his family is waiting on Travel Approval as I post this. If they can't travel the same time as us, they will be right behind us. Both of these orphanage brothers will be coming home to the good ole' U.S. of A. and will be able to keep in touch. God is good. And we and his friend's family are forever grateful to Terri for advocating for these boys during her daughter's adoption trip. Just one person can make an enormous difference.

We were able to see a little video of him this week. Facebook video from orphanage  

A family who had just adopted their two sons from his orphanage was so kind as to carry a gift over. They were allowed to visit the orphanage and give it to him in person and video that for us. Of course he didn't open it, because in China that is not what you do. They usually do not open the gift in front of the gift-giver. But I hope he liked his toys and new Superman t-shirt... Superman was adopted you know:)

As for the rest of our life... not so settled. The house WAS under contract for a month, but the would-be buyer couldn't sell his house, so that fell through. To be honest, not a surprise. Would have been nice if it worked out, but I also really liked not having to clean the entire thing every other day when someone wanted to come see it.

We put it back on the market, and we'll see what happens. Found one house that is under construction that we love, but it's a bit out of the range we initially were looking in. For now, we are going to let the cards fall where they may. Since we are going on a beach trip next week and then to China, it won't be a pain for us to let people come see it.

I will say that I WISH everything/everyone was more settled. If we stay here, the girls will move to the basement but we need to have some renovations done first and then Daniel will go to Shannon's room and Sam will go into Daniels room with Joshua and Ella's room will become the play room upstairs. See? I have it all worked out in my mind, I just can't move any furniture yet... So for now, we are ALL still upstairs and Sam is still in our room in his crib (even though he could TOTALLY be in his own room or in a room with Daniel) but now since we can't move the girls to the basement in the next two weeks, Joshua will need to be in with Daniel and we are still stuck with... I mean, Sam will still be in our room.

Not as neat and tidy as I'd like it to be, but hey, come July 11^th all 7 of us will be under one roof and that's what matters.

I've, of course, been thinking about the adoption trip and about Joshua everyday. I follow the journeys of other adoptive families on Facebook. Some go seemingly smoothly, some are quite difficult, some appear to be going smoothly at first but then hit bumps in the road. Of course the bumps will be there. You have to be mentally prepared for that. Doesn't make it easy though when you hit that unexpected bump out of nowhere. And just hope it's not a huge pothole that throws everything out of alignment. 

But what if it is? 

What if everything was going along smoothly and you thought you were doing everything right and everyone was happy, but then it gets bumpy and all of a sudden there's a humongous pothole that you can't avoid? And then what? Well, you have to fix what is broken. Even if you didn't break it. Even if you did everything you could and it still happened and life is out of alignment. That's what you have to prepare for. That can happen to anyone, no? In adoptions, in parenting, in relationships, in life... when you are thrown for a loop, what do you do?

This is where my faith calms me. I don't know what I'd do without it. I don't know how people, good, strong people, face life-altering tragedies or events without it. God never expected us to go it alone, to rely on ourselves. Thank goodness! I'd be a mess for sure by now. Okay, a different kind of mess.

Knowing God is with me makes me feel safe. I couldn't do this without Him.

Even though I have in my mind how I think Joshua's personality will be, he may be nothing like that. Even though I have a rose-colored vision of how smoothly this adoption trip and transition into our family can be, it may be completely the opposite. But I'm not scared. I'm not nervous. We will be fine. I'm not going to wait until things get too much for me to handle to reach out to God. I'm gonna be doing that the WHOLE TIME! I ask you to pray for Joshua. For his heart to be unbroken, for his soul to find peace, for him to feel safe and to be able to accept our love.

People look at us and congratulate us on adopting Sam, they raise their eyebrows when they hear we are going back in a couple of weeks to adopt again. “You guys are great parents... you must be a supermom.” That's one thing I've noticed, when you get to this many kids, and especially if some are adopted, you are by default considered a “supermom.” Hey, I'm not gonna argue with the truth... ba-dum ching! But seriously, people. We try our best and are good parents, but we aren't perfect or “super.” (Although there are many times I wish I had the superpower of mind control around here, things would be much easier for me.) I'm telling ya, I get my strength from God. And I'm not even a “super-Christian” either! Nope, not even close. But I do feel I'm doing what God has intended for me to do, and that's a comforting feeling. And I look at Joshua's face and I see my son and I know he is mine, even though we've never met, and that is by His grace that is possible.

So we're off to China soon and when we come home we may be moving or we may be staying, either way, rooms will be switched and kids will be shuffled, but everyone will have a bed to sleep in one way or another. (As you can see, I'm REALLY letting this go, no it's not bothering me at all.)

We will come home the day before Daniel's birthday, and he reminded us that we will, as per Dri Family tradition, have to go out to dinner at his restaurant of choice on his birthday. And we will... Fred, Shannon, Ella, Joshua, and I may fall asleep at the table, but we'll be out.... probably at Red Robin...yum:) 

For the recored, Daniel also let me know that we could have his kid party the next day, it didn't have to be ON his birthday. Thanks, Daniel. Um, yeah, not gonna happen, buddy. Give Mommy and Daddy a week or so before we host a herd of 7 year old boys. 

Hopefully I'll blog again before we leave for China. I'm amazed at how quickly this adoption process has gone so far. If it weren't for this big family trip we have coming up, we could be leaving tomorrow. I feel some guilt that we aren't since I pushed for the medical expedite. (I had no idea it could happen this fast!) But I also believe this trip is important for our family and we couldn't move the date. 

I can't tell you how this story will end, nor do I want to know. I'm enjoying the journey. It's been quite a ride so far. I'm blessed.