The Unintentional Christmas Gift

The holidays have come and gone and I am ashamed to admit I was somewhat of a Grinch this year. I slacked on the gift buying. I wasn't overly excited to put up the tree. Bah-hum bug. I'm going to blame it on the craziness of the past six months. Yep, that's the culprit. Life. It sucked the Christmas spirit right out of me. However, the closer to Christmas it got the more I could feel that holly jolly spirit creeping into my bones. I adore family time and Christmas gives me the unavoidable opportunity to spend some time with my favorite people on the planet. The spirit culminated on Christmas morning. I love my kids' contagious joy over bandaids in their stockings. It really is magical but this Christmas Jon and I were gifted a blessing that was the result of months of prayer, research, prayer, endless discussions and did I say prayer? It was an idea that was planted by others and watered by friends who told us of its blessings.

Jon and I have decided to adopt a beautiful baby girl from China. She is a precious child whose story we are just beginning to learn. For now we will just call her Lila.  She was our unintentional Christmas gift. This Christmas as I sat and watched my children open dozens of gifts from people who love and adore them I also saw Lila and the faces of dozens of children whom I have read about. Children, who through no fault of their own, would not sit around experiencing that same love and adoration. Children who don't have a mom or dad to rock them to sleep at night or kiss their boo boos. You see, when you start researching international adoption or domestic adoption you quickly realize most of these kids would trade ALL of the gifts for family movie nights or t-ball teams or someone to sit down a read them a book. The research will get you. It will pull at heart strings you didn't know you had. It will make you look at your teenager in a whole new light because when a child turns 14 in China they age out of the foster care system. Forever.  Fourteen. To fend for themselves. I found this quote from a 30 year old Chinese orphan who aged out of the foster care/orphanage system. This quote sucker punched me and forced Jon and I to stop researching, discussing and start moving.

"When I grew up in the orphanage it was Christians who bought us beds, clothing and provided money monthly for food. It was a Christian who wrote a letter in a shoebox, who first told me I was loved. It was the Christians who met all my physical and material needs in that orphanage. But it was also Christians who neglected my biggest need. Children in orphanages don't need more money, nicer building or better clothes. I am not an orphan because I lost my home or provisions. I am an orphan because I lost my parents. I needed a mom and a dad. I needed a family. Christians treated all my temporary symptoms of need but never cured my long term disease of being an orphan. I am still an orphan."

Before you begin forming these mythical notions that we must be these amazing parents allow me to dispel those notions like footprints in the sand. We are imperfect people serving a perfect God. A God who gives and takes away. Although Lila has lost her biological parents we are praying daily that God allows us to be the parents who can give her exactly what she needs to not only grow physically and emotionally but to also develop a relationship with her heavenly Father.

What I ask from you is simple…..pray…pray….and pray. Pray for us as we navigate this process with unlimited paperwork. Pray for our family as we are striving each day to be better. Pray for Lila as she is about to undergo some major changes in her young life. Pray for funding. We know God will provide. Pray…pray…pray.


Love you all. I'm sure you will hear more about this soon.