This arrived today

I realized I never told ya'll what was IN the box! lol  If you didn't figure it out...it was the beautiful Noah's Ark Puzzle to hang in W's room after the puzzle fundraiser is complete.

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Inside this oversized box is something I've wanted to do for a long time.  Ever since I saw one of my online adoption friends do it a couple years ago.  I think it will be fun and SO special.

Something you should know about this blog

I shared in my previous post that we had chosen the name Caleb if God ever brought us a son.  This name was chosen long before we even started trying to have a family.  I guess our assumption was always that Caleb would be a tiny baby born to us, upon whom we would lovingly bestow the name Caleb.  At that early stage of Eric's and my life together, we could not have imagined the different and exciting family plan that God was preparing us for. 

So now we have before us a "little man" instead of a baby.  A boy who will soon be 6 years old.  He has a Haitian name and this is what is familiar to him. For a child who has experienced loss and uncertainty since the beginning of his life, I imagine that his name is very important to him.  Eric and I decided long ago that if we ever adopted an older child (past the toddler years), especially a school aged child, we would have the child make the decision with us about his new name.  With Noelle (18 months at adoption) and Selah (10 months at adoption), we kept their Chinese and Taiwanese name to use as their middle name.  With "little man", he may want his new name to be like his sisters', or he may want his Haitian name to remain first.  Either way, we will find the name that fits him.

So, what is his Haitian name?

Well...here is where that issue comes up about telling the story but not over-sharing.  Of particular concern would be sharing information that could jeopardize the adoption process with its many legal steps.  The other concern would be having information "out there" that could end up making the child feel awkward or uncomfortable later on.  I will try to strike a healthy balance as I tell his story.  As we get further into the process we will be able to share more of the backstory details.  Regarding sharing photos of this oh-so-handsome fellow, details about where he is living, etc., we will find out what our adoption agency recommends and go from there.

So without further ado...
His name is W.!

Haha!  That's all you get for now. :) 

When our family talks about him at home, we call him by his Haitian name (it is soooo sweet) and not Caleb...for the reasons mentioned above.  And the fact that we are a very long way from an adoption decree.  So for this blog, "little man" will be referred to as W.

Finding "Caleb" - Part One

YES, WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN!!!  Here's the story.

Long ago Eric and I chose the name "Caleb" for the son that God would send us. 

We chose the name Caleb because of his story in the Bible.  A story that demonstrates that Caleb was a faithful man who served God with all his heart.  He was one of the 12 spies who went into Canaan to scout out the land for Moses, who believed that Canaan was The Promised Land God was giving to Israel.  Caleb spoke up, in boldness and courage, to say that the nation of Israel should go and conquer the land.  Not even Joshua, their leader, had that initial confidence.  Caleb was the one who encouraged Israel to follow God's will, in spite of fears and doubts and opposition.  (Thus the ancient Hebrew meaning of Caleb  = "whole hearted".)  This is the kind of son we would be privileged and humbled to raise, if God would bring us such a son.

Skipping forward to the latter part of 2012... 

We now had two precious daughters, our beautiful princesses from China and Taiwan.  Selah had been home with us for more that a year and was doing so well in her forever family.  We took such joy in how God had helped her attach to us and to integrate fully into our family.  We felt so blessed and content with the family God gave us.  And yet,,,we were becoming unsettled again.  God was stirring something inside us.  We began to talk, pray and dream about the future of our family.  To dream about our next child.  I personally began to feel that our next child would be a son - our son Caleb.  I sensed that God was preparing this child and preparing us for what was to come.

Eric and I prayed about several different options for adding the next child to our family.  We have always been open to any child.  Well, if I'm being completely honest,,,NOW we are open to ANY child He would bring us.  God used some amazing and some heartbreaking circumstances over the past several years to bring us to this point.  God does stuff like that. :)  He works on us, and refines us, and chips away the ugliness in us, until we have hearts like His! 

That is why we have said yes to God about sooooo many things when it comes to adoption.  We have said yes to:
~Adopting a kiddo right here in the United States
~Adopting a kiddo overseas
~Adopting a group of siblings
~Adopting a kiddo of any race or ethnicity
~Adopting a baby, a toddler, a preschooler, or a school aged child
~Adopting a kiddo with special needs
~Adopting a kiddo with a medical condition that requires ongoing treatment
~Adopting a kiddo with Hepatitis B or HIV or some other condition that (uneducated) people sometimes call "scary" or "ugly" or even "no way in heck!"

We totally trust that God knows the perfect child for our family-- the child who needs us and what we have to offer.  God also knows which child we need.  Because let's face it.  Raising children makes us better people.  It teaches us about ourselves and the areas where we need to grow.  It teaches us about laughter and joy, and sometimes pain and tears.  It teaches us the meaning of unconditional love.  And most importantly, it teaches us what it means "to be adopted as sons".  Our Heavenly Father adopts us into His "forever family", where we will spend eternity with Him and all those who love God!!

So here Eric and I are on the edge of the unknown.  What did God have in store?  For me especially, the excitement and anticipation of another child was growing.  For Eric? Well yes, him too.  But you have to understand my husband is the calm headed practical one.  That's why he needs ME to balance him out!! :-)  We started into the whole research thing again.  ("we" means "me", but I did give Eric regular briefings.)  We continued to pray and discuss our options. 

We also came up with a really good Plan.  We decided that we would learn all we could during 2013, and in early 2014 we would make a final decision (with God's leading) as to which adoption route to pursue.  That would give us time to finish some much needed home improvements and pay off all those car repairs to our two elderly automobiles (poor things), as well as those pesky medical bills (who knew how expensive tubes in the ears are--eek!).  See what I mean?  Perfectly good plan. Well, unless sometime before that God brought a child to us that was The Child that would be Our child.

Now we come to January of 2013...

During one of our adoption conversations, we learned something really important.  We both had a heart for Haiti.  Three years prior, right after the devastating earthquake, Eric and I had looked seriously into adopting a child from Haiti, because the need there had become so great (still is, by the way).  We also looked into fostering some of the evacuated children until they could return to Haiti.  In the end, neither option worked out.  However, each unbeknownst to the other, Eric and I continued to hold special feelings for the Haiti and its children.  We discovered this in January, three years later.

We took that as a meaningful sign and began to seriously pray if God might be leading us in this direction.  Within a few short weeks our answer was, Yes, Haiti seems to be the direction God is leading us.

During this time I joined a wonderful and supportive online community of people adopting children from Haiti.  What an amazing source of information, not to mention very amazing and caring people!  I started making some friends in the group, and they helped guide me through the Haiti process and told me about many ministries / organizations that run orphanages (called "crèches") for orphaned children available for adoption.  I started visiting websites to read all I could about these ministries and their crèches.  It is amazing how many godly people have answered the call to serve the children and communities of Haiti.  Praise God for those individuals!

So one day in mid February I looked up the website of another highly recommended ministry that ran a crèche.  I was blessed and amazed to see all that they do in their local community in Haiti-- educational programs, medical clinics, job training, agricultural programs and much more.  But I didn't leave the website until I checked out their adoption page, of course.  Everything seemed straight forward, so I moved on.  I couldn't resist clicking on the adoption link, The Children, before I left their website.

I scrolled through all the faces of boys and girls and sibling groups until I got to the very last child. 
And I saw it.  I saw the face. The face of a beautiful 5 year old boy with sparkling eyes and The Most beautiful smile.  Immediately I burst into tears...great, gasping sobs.  I didn't know what was wrong with me, but something very significant had happened.  I was making such a racket that I got Eric's attention at the other end of the house.

"Honey?  Are you okay??"

"I'll be right there..." I say, still sobbing.

I took my laptop to him, set it down in front of him and pointed at the little boy.  Through tears and a very unsteady voice, I said, "I think I just found our son!!"

Eric stared quietly at the boy for a moment.  Then he wrapped me in his arms and said, "Let's pray.  Dear Lord..."


AND SO ENDS PART 1.  TO BE CONTINUED...