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One year ago, to this day, we said “Yes” to the little boy we saw in the January 2001 CHI newsletter. He was a waiting child, four years old, born with a cleft lip and palate. We had three adopted children already, all adopted as infants or toddlers. We never wanted to adopt an ‘older’ child, or we never felt the urge to adopt a “special needs” child. These situations seemed outside our comfort zone. But, God had different plans for our family.
We saw his picture on a Wednesday. We had been talking off and on about adding another child to our family, maybe a boy, and maybe one a little older (like two or three). Then we saw his picture. As we looked at all those precious faces in the newsletter, our eight-year old son said “Mom, I think we should adopt that one.” I said “Really?, well, we’ll have to talk to your dad about that.” I instantly thought of all the reasons why this was not practical: He was already four.... he was born with cleft lip and palate. These issues raised all sorts of concern in my mind! But TJ, our son, talked to his dad before I even had a chance, and surprisingly, my husband was touched. So much so, he called CHI the next day to inquire about this little boy. He was still available for adoption, but we were told that we could only ponder this for one week, then we had to contact CHI with a “Yes” or send back his portfolio. We began thinking and praying. Between Thursday and Saturday we talked and prayed, and talked and prayed.. By the end of those three days, we had talked so much, we were tired. My husband knew he had to do more than talk (and pray)... he had to also research the financial aspects of another adoption. He sat down on a Saturday night, and crunched numbers; came to me about 9:30 that evening, and said “I just don’t see how we can do this adoption now. Financially, we should wait at least one more year to adopt again.” A bit relieved, I said “OK.’ But again, God had other plans. The next morning, we went to church, as usual for a Sunday morning. But for us, the sermon was not quite as usual. We were touched when our pastor spoke about how to “... love as Jesus loved.” He concluded his sermon asking the following questions (this sermon was so instrumental in our adoption decision that we received a copy of it).... “What question is God asking you? Whom is He asking you to touch? Whom is He asking you to accept? Whom is He asking you to value? Whom is He asking you to love?” Our tears were flowing by this time! How could we possibly say “No”, after thinking and praying about this little guy half a world away, when we had just been given such an incredible challenge. We knew we could not. We did not know how, we did not know why, we did not know how the money would come together for this adoption, we didn’t know how much money would be needed to take care of his medical expenses later or if our insurance would pay for any of it.... we did not know much, we just knew we had to say “Yes!” We had only four more days before responding to CHI, and each of the next three days, specific events happened that seemed to us to be more confirmation regarding this major decision (as if we needed anything more!). That was one year ago! Wow!... Jamin, our son has been with us four months. He adds a unique spark to our family, a wonderful addition. He is smart, curious, active, teachable, affectionate, out-going, a real people-person, and very much bonded to us. We are so thankful we did not say “no” to this little life. It has been such a pleasant adventure to see him bond, grow, adapt to friends and family, eat!, show his affection, respond to discipline and guidance, and to learn to speak. He is speaking English so well in just a short time that we, and everyone we know, are absolutely amazed! As I reflect today, I thank God for this last year’s journey, for our new son, and for the courage to say “Yes!”
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