The Blessing of Verity

YES, YES, YES!!!

YES, we have received our official travel dates!

YES, Joseph decided to travel with us!

And YES, God is timing this perfectly, as He can always be trusted to do!

Not only did I get two solid weeks to rest from Benjamin’s birth before life picked up pace again, but…

We’d kept the first two weeks of June free and made medical appointments for Tommy during the second half of June and beyond.

Now we’ll get the first week of June to pack.

And the second week of June…???

WOOOO-HOOOOO!!!  Breaking that boy OUT of the orphanage and bringing him HOME!!!

Did you know?

A friend of mine was visiting her child in Tommy’s orphanage during the first week of June last year.  I asked if my friend could inquire about Tommy while she was in his orphanage.  We thought he might be about ten years old, and wanted to find out his legal status if possible.  Was he registered for adoption?  If not, maybe we could help get that ball rolling for him.  We didn’t qualify to adopt that year, but since he had time and we needed time, maybe, just maybe, in a few years…

I described Tommy to my friend and she in turn described him to the orphanage staff.  They took her first to one boy and then to another.  None of them was Tommy.

I emailed her Tommy’s photo.

With one day to spare…

June 7, 2012~

“Hi Susanna,

Ok, we found him–we just went to the head nurse and she sent us right to him.  I took my laptop this afternoon so we could identify the boy in the picture you sent.  (We told her that to get the file from the government we needed his date of birth.)   She called ahead and gave them permission to let us see him. 

He will be 16 next March, so if there’s a family they will have to move quickly.”

Shock.

Crushing finality.

Immediate, enormous, heaving, gut-wrenching raw grief…

Oh God!  Send him a mother who loves him as much as I do!

Determination to advocate for him until God sent him a family…and they needed to love him, not just desire to save him from an adult mental institution…horrific as these human dumping grounds are…

Did you know?

The day we bring Tommy home for the first time in his life is an anniversary.  Check out the date on this post.

June 15, 2012~

URGENT:  The boy with the million-dollar smile

Did you know?

A few weeks after writing that post, I sent an email to a friend inquiring about adopting Tommy.

Read it and marvel with us.

July 4, 2012~

“K—-, how wonderful to hear from you!

Have you seen the Youtube video from June, 2011, with Tommy on it? That was our second look at Tommy, the first being the photos and video our friend S—- took of him when she went to his orphanage in March of 2011.

I cannot watch him without a terrible ache in my heart, as I had hoped so much he would be ours. He is absolutely a precious, gentle, pleasant, beautiful soul. I saw him in his bed when I first visited his orphanage. He was on the top floor, and at that time was in the next room to V——-, literally on the other side of the wall from her.

Just lying in his bed.

He responded to me with his huge, bright eyes when I leaned over his crib and talked to him. I had NO idea he was so old.

I saw him again in his orphanage a few months later. Have you seen the photo of him sitting on his baba’s lap?  If you look at the edge of that photo of him, you can see the corner of my black coat. I could hardly walk away, knowing it may be the last time I ever get to see him again. I felt like I was abandoning him.

He is such a treasure and my heart will stay broken that we cannot be his family. I am jealous for him, and pray that any family who adopts him will do it because they love this treasure with all their hearts!

Thanks for listening and caring, K—-, and for all you are doing to look into adopting him. All my hope for him is pinned on God, and I don’t want you to feel pressure from me that you have to choose Tommy. I am trusting God to lead you and pleading with Him to rescue Tommy, and I know He will do what He deems best.

Love,
Susanna”

Oh, the joy.

Oh, the abundant goodness of God.

January 10, 2013~