Lessons in Adoption Part 8

It was time for our third and final trip. This was a trip I enjoyed the most as there was no stress or worry of court. This trip was for the purpose of us going and bringing our son home. We weren’t sure how Gehrig would respond to us. During our last trip, he had grown quite attached to us. You would have never known that we had only known each other for about 2 weeks. But now, it had been 2 weeks since he had last seen us. Would he remember us? Or would it be like starting over?
We were driven back to his orphanage to pick him up. We got there during lunch time. All the kids were in the dining room. We peeked around the corner and could see Gehrig eating. Marcia went in first. When she went in, she squatted down to the floor and said, “Hey buddy”. Gehrig looked at her and immediately jumped up to hug her and shouted “Mama!”. To this day, I am so sick that I didn’t get that on video. It was such a relief. We found out later the orphanage workers had been showing him our pictures everyday over the two-week period making sure he didn’t forget us. Their work gave us a moment we will never forget.
Over the next seven days, we finished up the paperwork for passport, doctor’s visit, etc. He was ours. Nothing was going to change that. We boarded a plane in Warsaw and headed home. Walking through the airport, Gehrig waved at everybody. He wouldn’t say anything but smile. As I mentioned before, his smile is infectious. He had people from all walks of life waving and smiling at him. Even now, he never meets a stranger. I told Marcia the boy is either going to be a preacher or a politician.
When we arrived in Memphis, we were met at the airport by several family members. It was such a neat moment to share with them after all they had gone through with us. Gehrig was giving out hugs left and right. I think he could see really quick that his days of starving for attention were over.
We were relieved to have this process behind us. It had been both emotionally draining but also fulfilling. God has blessed our family in a remarkable way through a little boy born half-way around the world. Our daughters will even tell you, they can’t imagine our family without him. Gehrig is now almost 7 years old and starting first grade. He is full of life and loves to please. There are many days it is impossible to keep up with him. I can’t begin to count how many times he has made me laugh. If I had to do over, knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t hesitate. I would do it again for him. I went into this process thinking that we were going to bless a little boy’s life. I came out of it with so much more. He has blessed my life many times over the amount that I feel I have blessed his. It was a long hard journey but through it, God taught me some valuable lessons. In our next post, I will share some of those lessons.