Last October, my wife and I arrived at an orphanage called Future Hope in Xiaman, China. We had traveled 16 hours with a good friend of ours who introduced us to the orphanage. Over the course of two days we played, held and cared for some of the most beautiful kids I have ever seen. Most had medical challenges of one kind or another, most had been abandoned.
On that second day, there was an 8 month old boy crying in the arms of one of the orphanage employees. He had recently had surgery and was having a difficult time getting along. Something about that cry or perhaps his need for consoling drew me in. I asked to place him in my arms and for next few hours I just held him. I had a hard time pronouncing his Chinese name so I called him Peanut, because he was just so small.
Sometimes life presents you with something you would never expect. Sometimes your path in life intersects with something much greater than you could have ever imagined. It is at these intersections in life that we realize that there is divine reason for being.
One year later, after tons of red tape, paperwork and the help of many parties, I am proud to announce we are bringing home our new son, Peanut.
Two weeks ago we were formally matched with the little boy whose life intersected ours and in hopefully just a few months we will travel back to China and bring him home. I hope to write more about the journey and share my thoughts about adoption and being a father again. I wish I could share some of the images of Peanut (which he will have a ‘real’ name) but for the protection of him and all kids in care, I can’t. Although if I did, you would think he was pretty stinking cute.
For now we will wait and hope the the ‘powers that be’ push his file through quickly so we can bring him here with his big brother, sisters and two really blessed parents.
We’re coming Peanut.
