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By Guest Blogger Angela Kreh, Joy’s new forever mama
Almost two weeks ago, my oldest daughter and I flew to China to meet a girl we'd never met to become the daughter we never knew we'd always missed.
We met Joy on March 12, and on March 13, she legally became ours forever.
As I fly home from China today with this spicy girl with the sparkly extra chromosome in my arms, I want to answer one big question.
The WHY.
(Admit it – you are or have wondered why we are adopting a child considered “imperfect” by the world!)
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Since the Kreh family moved forward to adopt the girl who turned our worlds upside down last winter, they’ve held fast to one motto: MORE JOY, LESS FEAR.
More JOY in their arms, less FEAR of what a life with a child with a sparkly extra chromosome might look like.
More JOY in their hearts, less FEAR about what dreams those hearts might have to exchange for new ones when they let God do a work on the old.
More JOY in their lives, less life lived in FEAR.
For the last year, our team has had the honor of watching this beautiful family (who we now just call our “cousins”) boldly march forward and courageously run after the girl who lives life out loud.
Who seizes every moment.
Who makes the most of every day.
And this month, we’ve had the heart-melting privilege of watching from afar as two of them have traveled to China to reclaim hope for this girl who for too long has been called “orphan.”
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The doctor delivered the news just five minutes after we had delivered and fallen in love with the first superhero to ever join our family.
Super-Spouse and I had just completed the feat of all feats — staying awake for 24 hours without anything but a sneaked-in Handisnack to keep us energized, cheering one another on in our tiny post hospital room as we prepared to change our official titles.
From young, naïve IDIOTS to young, naïve, idiotic PARENTS.
We were holding sweaty hands, smiling from ear to ear and just in total awe and amazement at the little boy we had somehow created, now being observed and examined in the careful hands of his doctor.
We were mesmerized.
We were in love.
And after spending nine long months dreaming about and imagining what this baby and this moment would feel like, we didn’t think anything could possibly bring us down.
Until the pediatrician our delivery doctor had summoned spoke.
“The bridge of your baby’s nose is wide, his ears aren’t aligned and frankly, he’s just what we call an FLK,” the pediatrician told us. “A funny-looking kid.”
Super-Spouse and I looked at each other, and after 24 hours with no sleep and more than an hour trying to push out a baby, I was delirious, in pain and almost couldn’t process what the doctor said.
Our baby, our beautiful, flawless baby, minus the bruises and the head malformation that came from hours of pushing, looked perfect to us.
“I’m going to order a full chromosomal karyotype,” he told us. “Since you two aren’t FLPs — funny-looking parents — I’m concerned about your son’s health. If he doesn’t have Down syndrome, I’m 99 percent sure he has something. This chromosomal analysis will tell us what it is.”
And then, as quickly as he entered our life, he left it … in complete and utter upheaval.
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I was holding it together — or at least, I was really trying.
I was carrying the sweet girl with the trademark kisses — the one who has been nothing but PURE, UNFILTERED JOY for 30 days in our home — to our final destination at the departures area of the Atlanta airport.
And it was taking everything I had not to break down into hysterics in front of her.
She’d known this day was coming.
Her nannies had reminded her before she left that this was only a 30-day international “camp” experience in America. Her assistant orphanage director had even FaceTimed with her the week before the departure to make sure she remembered she didn’t get to stay at camp forever. She had no expectations of this being a long-term experience, and she had no idea that while she was here, we were fighting for her and telling her story.
She just thought she was one of the lucky 20 selected for a 30-day orphanage field trip to America.
And yet, when she walked through those airport doors, both of us realized just how hard this farewell was going to be.
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God hasn’t revealed your names yet, but we believe you know who you are.
That family who can’t stop thinking about Joy. Praying about Joy. Checking back on the blog and Facebook page to catch just one more picture of Joy.
That family who is so captivated by this little girl that your mind can think about almost nothing else these days.
Sweet one, that’s YOU.
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