FINALLY! Waiting for 9 months for a newborn baby was a piece of cake compared to waiting for our 4 new children! But like the delivery room, when you hold that newborn baby pain is quickly forgotten. Yesterday, our four new additions to our family arrived. If this were football, they'd call it a "broken play". Waiting on paperwork, missed flights, much later than anticipated, and one big Christmas party were all part of the moment. We had planned to have them well before today but God's timing is always impeccable as 20+ people arrived at our house only a few short hours after our children. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if many of the guests passed the social workers as they sped back to the airport to catch a late afternoon flight back to their hometown!
But the scene was beautiful. The social workers called when they were but a mile or two away from the house. Jeffrey (our 10 year old) decided he would stand on stump of our recently fallen oak tree in the front yard. As the social workers were looking for the house they inadvertantly passed by but would received some assistance from the kids: "You missed it! You missed it! You missed it! There's Jeffrey! Go back, go back!"
When they turned around and got back we could hear them screaming in the car when they came down the driveway :-). Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, The oldest girl and boy literally jumped out of the car and ran to us, immediately referring to us as "Mom" and "Dad". Karen quickly got the 2 year old out of his car seat while the 3 year old got stuck in his car seat due to some mechanical malfunction with the seat belt. He was getting irritated that he couldnt get out, mostly fearing that his siblings were gaining an edge in seeing their new rooms first! They immediately wanted to see their rooms and when they did you could see the delight on their faces. The boys proceeded to take out every toy in their room and play with them. While snapping a number of pictures for the records, the social worker uttter the words "ya'll were REALLY ready for them...this is great". The paper work went fast and then the 2 social workers wisked away in order to return to the airport by 4. The good byes were quick as the kids continued to be enthralled with with their new home and in particular, their new toys! They hadn't eaten lunch yet and it was already after 2 so we took the easy way out and got them mcdonalds. There was an attempt to get them all down for a nap but excitement trumped fatigue and only the 2 year old nodded off.
Even as we were attempting the whole nap thing, family and guests were trickling in for the party. There were over 20 people in the house and alot of activity ensued. We weren't sure how all the stimulation would effect the children but they fit right in. They played, ate and acted like they were part of the family since day one. Each acted as if they never meet a stranger and blended in with whoever was here. Our oldest daughter's fiance and his brother brought his guitar and played Christmas music. As we all sang traditional Yuletid tunes, the kids sat amoungst us and listened. To our surprise, they were amazingly so calm during that time. We wondered if they had ever been around anything like that before but each seemed to enjoy the moment as they sat on laps and felt the warm embraces of new mom, dad, grandmothers, grandfathers, sisters, brothers and friends. Karen said it felt like the scene in the movie "While You Were Sleeping" when Lucy (played by Sandra Bulluck) goes to the family Christmas dinner and even though there's all this activity and even chaos, feels for the first time the family she never had. If the moment had been a movie they would have zoomed in on each kid and narrated their thoughts. At the end of the party when everyone was leaving, Justice (7 year old girl) gathered all the punch cups and asked if she could do dishes. She did and was so proud of it...and Karen was too! I asked why she was washing the dishes and she replied, "I just wanted to help mom, she's worked so hard today".
The evening came to close with friends and family saying their goodbyes and Karen's parents sharing Christmas gifts with the children. The 4 year old boy opened his Buzz LightYear figure and instantly proclaimed "this is the best toy ever!" Later, as I got the boys down for bed, Karen spent some time with Justice, where she gleefully sported her new PJs. She wanted to open her new Barbie doll and in a few minutes she softly said to Karen "this was the best present ever". Karen thought she was refrerring to the Barbie and wondered what exactly the doll meant to her. But then Justice clarified and asked "do you know why?" And when Karen responded "why?" she simply said "because I got a family".
The special moments continued this morning when Judah awakened to tell Karen that he had a dream: "I dreamed about being in the shelter". Then he quickly added, "I like this place alot better!"
Words cannot capture the plethora of "special moments" that were packed into the evening. From Justice's "I got a family" to Jaden's "I like you dad!" to Judah's "mom, I was dreaming about the shelter and I like this place alot better!" it was a special time. In looking back over these first few hours with our new children I am again reminded of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said "let the children come!" as He hoisted one up on His lap as the words rolled off His lips. It is a wonderful thing when a child finds his or her home. It reminded me of the verse in Luke 15 when Jesus spoke of the scene in Heaven when somebody finds their Heavenly Father and family: there is joy in the presence of angels [when one finds their Heavenly Father]. As I watched our 4 new children enjoy all the benefits of family, I could not help but think about all the Heavenly benefits that we enjoy as part of God's family. We are so abundantly blessed. While some people get to talk about what the Kingdom of God is like, we got to see, first hand, what the Kingdom of God is like. Friends, family, kids, all together, rejoicing in the His presence, flourishing in the connections that support and bind us together. This is life at its best! We are so thankful to all of our friends, family, children (the older ones), blog readers, and everyone else that have supported us and blessed us along this journey of finding our children. The best is yet to come!
Awesome!!! Congrats!!!
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