3 Years Ago

Three years ago today was the end of a long wait and we finally got to take Peyton and Caleb from the orphanage.  What a bitter sweet day it was.  It was really hard for me to leave so many children behind just knowing I would never get to see them again.  They had forever changed me and I am so thankful for that.  Yes, the things they taught me I already knew, but they just sharpened it all for me.

Like:

Kindness - If one orphan had several apples, they didn't keep them all but made sure everyone had one. Even if that meant giving up the last one you had and running to the orchard for more.

Patience and Goodness -  I couldn't communicate because of the obvious language difference but they were so patient with me when I would try and speak Ukrainian. They would keep saying the word until I got it, always sweet and kind.

Joy and Faithfulness- After we were there a few days and they got used to us, they would come running as soon as they saw us.  It was a faithfulness we came to count on at such a hard time and always with joyful faces;

Gentleness and Self-Control - What would you do if you saw a mouse?  Yeah, not these children. They had a pet mouse and would hold it so gently and even when it bit them, they still were so gentle with it.

Peace  or Contentment -  The children wore the same clothes day after day and took a bath once a week.  The outside toilets were less than ideal; imagine a small wooden shed with a concrete floor and three holes cut in the concrete.  Yes, squatty, potty.  I never once heard them complain about this and I know, what good would it have done. But, wow, how much it taught us about being content with all that we have.

Love - Our sweet A.  This girl was so shy and standoffish when we got there.  We could see the longing in her eyes that she wished we were there for her, not a jealousness at all, just a desire to be chosen and loved.  By the time we left there we definitely were in love with her.  I will not forget this day, that look on her face and those tears rolling down her face, because the likelihood of us coming back was just not possible.

But............. what an awesome God we serve, that 3 years later and 1 week after I quit my job, He would have me follow a FB post that would lead me to find A's picture.  A hosting agency was trying to find a family to host her for the Summer.  We decided we wanted to be that family but we would just go and adopt her instead.

So today on Peyton and Caleb's Gotcha Day I am just so humbled that God chose us to be their parents and is leading us back to the one we could not forget.

~ Tina  

photo from 2012