A Very Special Visitor

Do you remember as a kid what it was like to lose your first tooth? How you would wiggle it day and night and you couldn't wait for it to fall out. Then when that tiny white tooth would come out it was like a huge treasure you would tuck so carefully under your pillow and wait for the tooth fairy to leave a special surprise. Well our poor little 7 year old has been eagerly waiting to lose a tooth. He finally got one that was becoming loose and for the past month he was wiggling that thing nonstop. And lets just say having your hands in your mouth all the time is not a good thing, when you have a germaphobe nurse for a mama!! Yuck !!! But then finally, it was out! Thanks to his Gaga - she pulled  his first tooth. So that night he placed his little white tooth under his pillow anticipating that the tooth fairy would come and visit him. Even AJ was excited to go to sleep hoping that he might accidentally awaken when the tooth fairy appeared in their bedroom to sneak a glimpse of her magic and beauty.

The early morning arrived with two very excited little Ethiopians standing at the edge of my bed. One holding a dollar in his hand, eager to tell me about his very special vistor he had in the middle of the night. This visitor had no magic or fairy dust or money to bring but something far more important that Bryson was excited to share with us........

So I know we have kinda been quiet on the whole adoption. But there is not a whole lot to talk about when your collecting papers, having things notarized, fingerprinted, stamped, approved, and checked with a fine tooth comb. But we have FINALLY finished our homestudy!!! This homestudy took a lot longer than we had hoped but we really struggled with what our request would be for a child. My answer in the the beginning was ages 0-14 siblings any medical, physical, or mental special needs. I just felt and still feel that: 1.God already knows our child/children so we should just leave it as open as possible and let Him do His work of matching us. 2.I want to be obedient to whatever child/children God wants me to parent and 3.I know some children's issues may sound scary to parent but I also know that God knows me better than I know myself, and I trust that he will give me the tools, strength, support, and love to parent any child regarless of their history or special need.

Call me crazy for being so open (and some have) but I truly felt like I was putting limits on what God might ask of me. I know looking back now that is kinda silly because God is greater than what any human types on a piece of paper, but at the time I was losing sleep over this. Jimmy on the other hand was open to any age but a little more reseverded on the type of special needs he was willing to be open to. However our social worker was very against our age request. One reason our social worker didn't like our age request is because they do not like disrupting birth order. Especially putting an older child above the first born. We didn't think Bryson would have a problem not being the oldest because he doesn't act like a first born, and he doesn't have a lot of  first born characteristics. He also was not the first born when he lived in Ethiopia with his birth mother. When we sat him down to ask him how he would feel about having an older sibling he was very against it and said it would make him “very mad”. So we decided that he had been through enough change in his life and that we wouldn't take that away from him. After a lot of praying we really felt that God was helping us close some doors and made our age request 0-6 years of age.

So remember dollar in hand standing at the side of my bed?......

Bryson: Mommy I had a dream.

Me: You did? About what? (expecting it to be about tooth fairies and magic dust)

Bryson: God said we should adopt an older sister. (I about fall off my bed at this point!)

Me: He did????? (I looked around and make sure I wasn't dreaming)

Bryson: Yeah

Me: Who was in your dream?

Bryson: Me, God, my older sister and a bunch of kids. Can we adopt one older sister and one younger sister mommy?

Me: I don't know Bryson. We will have to see. But how did that make you feel when God said

that?

Bryson: Mad. No I won't be mad anymore. (What an honest answer. Don't we always want to be mad and say no at first!?)

Me: What's in your hand?

Bryson: Oh a dollar from the tooth fairy. ( Take THAT, tooth fairy, your measly little dollar, magic, and fairy wings, mean nothing when God shows up! Oh wait am I talking to myself here??)
 

I just love everything about this conversation and will cherish it forever1 That this little child is being obiedant to God, despite what he wants, and that he is being obiedant for an orphan. Here I thought God was closing the door for us to adopt an older child when Bryson was so against it and little did I know that He would appear to him a dream. I think it is so easy to forget that God works on the heart of a child just like He works on our heart. I think as a parent we always think we need to be showing our child right from wrong, good from bad, and that it is our job to be guiding their hearts to do the right thing. When sometimes we need to step back, pray, and let God do His work. So needless to say after more praying and another long conversation with our social worker, our age request has changed to age 0-10 years old. So whether or not Bryson will end up with an older sibling or not is still unknown but I do know that God is changing his heart for an older orphan for some reason. I'm not sure what that reason is for but the fact that he is saying 'yes' couldn't make this mama any prouder. I just love that kid and our talks we have about adoption!!!