You will have to forgive the extended metaphor I am about to use today, but adoption brings out my sentimentality (some might call it cheesiness!). We went to the US Embassy yesterday to get Elijah's visa to enter the States. The final step of paperwork in this adoption process. I was struck with the fact that we did it. Against all odds, we are together. We are a family. At times I really doubted this would happen.
So I thought it was fitting that after our appointment, we climbed a tower (ok, we took the elevator, but still, work with me here). Canton Tower is in the center of Guangzhou.
From the bottom, it looks too high. Impossibly high. This is the highest tower in the world. Did we really want to climb it? Even when we were in the fast- moving elevator, it felt like we would never get to the top. It was exciting and kind of scary.
Elijah is incredible. So sweet, so smart, not a mean bone in his body. Very generous. Vulnerable. Kind. Cuddly. I did not dare to expect it would be this good, this soon.
When I look back at the past 4 years, I wonder why we persisted when we didn't even know for sure that Elijah was this special, this easy to love. We just had a hunch. And we decided it would be worth it even if he was a challenge.
And I got scared and discouraged many times. By the bueaucracy, by the naysayers, by my own inability to "do it all."
But something would not let me give up. Something in me just could not rest until he found a home. And I really, really hoped it was our home.
I know the real work begins when we step off that airplane in Newark and start to blend our lives together. I know it's not all downhill from here. But if God has taken us this far, I can only trust that He will be with us for the rest of the ride.
Thank you, thank you, thank you,
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