DJ, the child we hosted and advocated for during the summer of 2016 and our forever “nephew,” has officially been a son for one full year! We asked his mama, Rebecca, if she would give us an update on life back home in Chicago. This is her honest, f’real, brave and vulnerable look behind the scenes of the last challenging year as a mama to that boy we love so much. Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing your story. <3
Read moreAn Adoption Day 11 Years in the Making
I feel like we’ve been waiting FOREVER for this day.
For seven long months.
Since the day we said goodbye.
But when I look back, it’s been longer.
For us, we’ve been waiting for this day since the day 11 months ago when we signed up to host the precious 10-year-old boy who had one day left to find a host family.
Whose smile stole our hearts.
Whose hand reminded us of our own Superman’s.
Whose heart we heard already from the hosting coordinator was just made of gold.
It’s been since THAT day that we’ve been waiting for THIS one.
The day that our first ever host child would be officially registered for ADOPTION!
Read moreDJ Changed Our Story
We weren’t planning on hosting a child again so soon.
Our month with DJ, the 10-year-old superhero-in-waiting we hosted over the summer, was truly a milestone in our family’s lives. He wrecked our hearts and opened our eyes, and all of us decided hosting was something we absolutely wanted to do as a family once a year.
We just thought we’d WAIT a year before doing it again.
Until the email arrived in my box.
Read moreAudacious Love: What Orphan Hosting Taught Me About Loving Boldly
It’s been three weeks since I cried my way through the Atlanta International Airport, clinging to the hand of a boy who stole my heart and rocked my world.
Three weeks since that boy placed his hands on my cheeks and beamed as “Ayi ku la.”
Three weeks since we said “zai jian” to the 10-year-old superhero we can’t stop thinking about, reminiscing about, talking about or praying for.
I never knew three weeks could feel like such a lifetime ago and almost yesterday at the exact same time.
That boy, he wrecked me. Utterly, completely, wholly, fully wrecked me.
In the surprise of my life, God used a 10-year-old orphan from China to rewrite my definition of “love.” To turn my world upside down. To reveal my flaws. To shine a light on the dark spots of my heart. And to teach me about a NEW kind of love. A bold kind of love. A kind of love that gives itself wholly and unashamedly and FULLY without reservations, even when the person offering it knows that a 200 percent kind of love WILL end in a 100 percent chance of pain when the person being loved and the person doing the loving have to say goodbye at some point in the future.
Especially when the person imagining herself to DO the loving finds that SHE IS INSTEAD the one 200 percent fully LOVED.
Read moreThe Tears That Were Worth It
He’d been asking me for two weeks if I would cry.
Public tears are not prevalent in Chinese culture, and, until he came to our home, I don’t think this sweet boy had ever seen someone cry for HIM.
But when he saw me break down in our kitchen two weeks ago and Miss Mackenzie explained to him in Chinese that I was crying because 1. I was a crazy American and 2. I would miss him, his eyes lit up. He wrapped his arms around me, and he gave me one of his newly discovered running-jump hugs.
And from that day forward, every night as I tucked this sweet boy into bed, after bedtime stories and prayers, he counted down the days until he would board an airplane and Ayi would cry.
“Ayi ku la?” he would ask as he grasped my face in his hands and examined my eyes for tears.
“Thursday,” I kept telling him. “Ayi will definitely cry on Thursday.”
And on Thursday, I just couldn’t stop.
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