Louis Armstrong is singing via the Starbucks Sound system with his trademark gravelly voice. Our last full day in China.
This morning after another delicious buffet breakfast at the Hotel’s Veranda Café we all met for a family picture in the lobby (by the stairs). We have a similar picture of Samuel with our last adoption group. This time I have many more pictures of the children. They are adorable. Later on we spent some time praying for our children. I was reminded of this one spiritual truth: The conception of our children was already in the mind of God. He knew of each child before the creation of the world. Therefore abandonment is not in God’s plans. It was Satan’s idea. Adoption is God’s idea for each of us. These children are known and loved by the Lord. Therefore they do not need to live in the shadow of abandonment, nor do they need to accept that they are abandoned. God had planned for these children to be grafted into loving and caring families. It’s an awesome ministry that God has called each of our families to.
Although we will separately travel different roads we will learn new lessons from God in the process. Some roads will be easy and some will be difficult but God is with us every step of the way. We don’t know what medical intervention Steven will need in the days ahead but we pray that God will already be healing the hurts in his life and accept the unconditional love and grace that our gracious Lord offers freely to him.
Steven loves to sing. He knows dozens of children's songs. One of the first songs we heard him sing to our interpreter in Hangzhou was the story of a little boy all alone who was given a new mama and baba to love him forever. It brought tears to our eyes. We love being called "mama" and "baba" and in Amy's case "gi-gi". Little Samuel is called "di-di". When we dress them up alike people think they are twins. Samuel is a head taller and larger than Steven even though we are told that Steven is over three years older! Sammy is only four. Everyone says he is large for a four year=old. So we have been confusing people with our children. By the way, Steven also knows "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in Chinese of course. He's actually a very shy boy when in public. But in our room he's quite vocal. I wish I could communicate with him. Right now hugs will have to sufficie.
At 3:00 PM this afternoon we travel to the US Consulate, complete the final paperwork, undergo a swearing in ceremony that states that we have not falsified any of the paperwork that was submitted. Then we receive a special sealed envelope that will be opened by the US Customs and Immigration office (for our case in Minneapolis). When we land on US soil, Steven will be an American citizen and be afforded all the rights and privileges of an American.
I'll try to upload a few photos.
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