by Julia DesCarpentrie
Christmas was quickly approaching five years ago and the excitement was building in our household. But a part of my heart was missing and a bit of sadness tinged my preparations. The previous month we had signed a letter of intent to adopt a little boy from China. We had made it through the home study, filled out mountains of paperwork, were approved to adopt this precious boy, and now we were waiting ...
From the day we began the process to adopt, my daily prayer was that God would prepare the heart of our child for us and that our family would love this child as deeply as we loved each other. I was amazed at how my prayer was answered before we even met our son. As soon as we saw his photo, he was ours.
As we shopped for gifts for our other two children I would find gifts for our son across the ocean. Though he would not be home with us to open them, we still bought them for when he would finally be able to celebrate with us. One day when shopping with my mom she saw a woman with an Asian child exit a store and quickly tried to divert my attention. Too late. As I saw the mother and her little one walking hand-in-hand through the mall together, tears of longing clouded my vision. I missed my son whom I had never even held.
This video is dedicated to every parent waiting for a child and for their family to be complete. Brad Avery, from Third Day, has also spent a Christmas waiting and longing for his child in China. The video includes photos from their journey to their daughter and the song he wrote about missing his little girl. Grab the tissues!
Thank you for this beautiful post. Although my babes didn't come from across the ocean but rather a few hours away, there were many a Christmas I was waiting, and missing them. My prayers are with all those who are either still waiting, or right now missing a child who should be home for Christmas.
Posted by: Tammy | Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 11:09 AM