I have spent over a month contemplating what I would write
about once home with our sweet boy. This blog has always been a transparent canvas
for my thoughts and feelings throughout our four-year long process to bring him
home and I wanted to cap off our return with a true account of what our Journey
to Jude was really like. I started a
post describing our trip to China detail by detail and day by day, but after
hours of writing and weeks spent in my little boy’s presence, I realized my
post shouldn’t detail our trip but the very reason for the trip, our Jude. Trust me parts of our China trip were almost
indescribable, like the Great Wall for instance. It is just mind blowing how
and when this thing was built and the view… well it is simply breathtaking. Jayden
was quite the popular man in China, particularly at the wall and the summer
palace. Many young Chinese girls asked to take their pictures with him. I guess
seeing a blonde hair, blue eyed cutie is not all that common in China. But
despite the amazing views and crazy travel experiences we encountered, the most
amazing part of our journey was obviously getting to finally meet our families
missing piece and now the true journey has just begun.
(Above) Summer Palace; a beautiful tourist park with temples and lakes
For over 4 and half years we dreamt of the moment we would
actually lay hands and wrap arms around our little one. This tiny (literally 3% percentile in weight)
human captured our hearts 8 months ago from half way around the world. Now that
he is finally home, calling us momma, baba (daddy) and Gugu (big brother), life
has new meaning for all of us. Our exhausting wait is over and now a new
exhaustion has taken its place. He may be tiny but he is full of energy, and this
boy loves to talk and run and play! Instead of spending our days anticipating
paperwork and approvals, we spend them teaching connection, love, patience,
English, and the meaning of family. We are all in awe of this warrior boy, and
our love has deepened in an absolutely beautiful way. Please don’t
misunderstand me though, the last several weeks home have not been easy and he
is not completely lovable all the time, none of us are! Again, this blog is
about truth in adoption and while it is beautiful, it is never easy and is not how
social media always portrays.
Back to China; the trip in one word was exhausting! Jet lag
is no joke, but beyond the time difference and the toll it takes on you
mentally and physically, is the sheer exhaustion of emotionally preparing and
executing the actions of trust, care, and love. We have been preparing for this
moment for years now by reading personal blogs, various books, and attending seminars
on this exact process. With that said, it is in no way easy to implement day by
day, hour to hour, or minute by minute. In fact, while we had ideas of how to
create attachment once home, we had little clue as to what we should do in our
first few moments together. I think jay and I figured that gem out moments
before we met Jude, and that’s when the fear set in. Let me digress for a
moment. On the third day of our trip, while Jet lag was still fresh and active,
we (along with another couple) were ushered into a van and driven 15 minutes to
the city of Hefei’s civil affairs office. While I could go on and on about the
driving in China and how a 15-minute ride can feel like a car chase from the
movies, our poor little boy spent 4 times longer than us in a cramped car
without his familiar caregivers. He was given a backpack stuffed with potato
chips and candy to appease him for the journey. It became evident quickly that
he likely had not been exposed to these treats before as he hoarded them from
all of us in fear we would take them away. The office itself was located on the
4th floor with an elevator that was not working that morning. We
climbed the four flights of stairs to a small, non-air conditioned, musty room
with two small tables and 4 chairs. As we waited in the office, our nerves
continued to climb. We prepared some little toys and snacks on the floor as
well as cameras for his debut. While there were about 10 of us total in the
room, it was nearly silent. Then came the self-doubt and the “what if”
questions that sneak in when you are about to do something huge. We had no idea
what to say or do when he walked in, what if he wanted nothing to do with us?
What if he screams to go back? What if he is nothing like his pictures and
videos suggest? What if he medical needs are more than we know about? Suddenly
we got word they had arrived and we could hear some soft spoken mandarin by the
escorts. He walked in behind them, slightly wobbly on his feet, but with a big
smile on his face and he was gently pushed (literally) in my direction as the
escort described that I was his “momma”. Could you imagine being pushed toward
someone and told, this is your mom now?! I felt so happy but also so sad for
him and his heart in that moment. I can’t imagine the fear that this little one
endured, but he put on his brave face and followed script so to speak to walk
away from his old life and boldly into his new one. He was so much smaller than
I expected, and holding him actually felt like holding a baby in some ways. His
legs were like little noodles and they went limp as we lifted him up. He was
not used to be being held and he lacked the ability to wrap his legs around us like
most children learn to do. He was very unsteady on his feet, as I said, but we also
realized his shoes were far too big for his tiny feet. He told us, through an
interpreter that he brought a backpack full of snacks but he obviously welcomed
our suckers and drinks too. In fact, he chugged the water we brought without
stopping before putting it down. He would do this for the next several days
before he learned that we would always have a drink and snacks readily
available for him. A guide would later tell us “He will be so happy to eat and
drink and talk whenever he wants!” What that implies is that he was not able to
eat, drink, or talk whenever he wanted before….
We all sat on the floor playing with toys for awhile. Jay
and I sat close so we could touch, smell, and listen to the little one who we
had only dreamed of for so long. He smiled at us while playing but had very
little engagement in playing with us. It was an overwhelming moment as we had
anticipated, but the moment turned in an instant when Jayden took a toy from Jude
to show him how it worked. Suddenly this smiley boy’s demeanor changed in an
instant. He scowled, growled like an animal, and yelled. In a moment already
extremely overwhelming, fear and doubt reemerged but much more profound. He did this several more times before we left
that office and in the first few days that followed. If I’m honest, something
inside me wondered “what did we just do?! What if he has behavioral issues
beyond our control? What if he hurts Jayden or us? What if….” I have found that
fear and worry can have that power over us when we don’t look beyond ourselves.
Jesus taught on that subject when Peter asked to come of the boat. God has told
me several times throughout this journey that He was in control, He knew who our
son was, called us to patience, and above all God constantly called us through
this process to rest in the knowledge that “the wind and waves still know his
name”, meaning nothing is beyond Him and nothing surprises Him. And like Peter,
we were not to keep our eyes on the waves, but on Him. He did not promise us a fast or easy adoption.
He did not promise us one without fear or without doubts either. But He called
us and asked we trust in Him. We believe that God called us specifically to
Jude. We have seen proof of this along the way and believe it now that he is
home more than ever. There are families who have sadly traveled to China,
experienced similar scary behaviors, and who have backed out of their adoption
due to fears and unknowns. Jay and I made a promise to God and each other when
we said “YES!” to Jude, that “no matter what or who we get to in China, he is
ours and we are his”. We prayed a lot over our little man in the first few hours
and days and the survival behaviors soon diminished. As we began to care and meet
his needs our love grew, the connection increased, fear diminished, and doubts
erased. We have never seen the growling or yelling like that again.
Jude WAS a dramatically independent 4-year-old when we first
met. He was made to be this way given his early life experience. He had to look
out for himself because no one else would. Jay and I have been taking that independence
away. We are taking over bathing him, brushing his teeth, putting on his cloths,
feeding, holding, and soothing him. We have never seen a child bathe himself
like Jude used to. It was quick, rough, and yet very thorough. Same with
brushing his teeth. I would describe his self-care as aggressive and fast. I
doubt he had a lot of time to get these activities done before. He was used to soothing and calming himself
but because he is four, he learned to do this by banging his head back and
forth and sucking his fingers until they were raw. His hands had very dry skin
on his fingers from sucking the skin so hard.
We have purchased a baby monitor and now monitor for these behaviors and
intervene immediately when we see them so that we are the ones soothing him
from here on out. We are taking him back
to the basics, as a mother and father would care for their new baby, so that
trust can develop and the result so far is that after just a month in a family,
Jude is improving. He has started whining. We actually need him to whine (can’t
believe I typed that!) because at his age its how he communicates that he needs
something, especially since he hasn’t mastered the English language yet. When
he was scared in China, he would silently cry but comply with whatever we were
asking. He never had a choice or a voice in an orphanage. It was heartbreaking
to watch, but now Jude CRIES! We give him choices and we encourage his voice,
even his cries and whines. He is learning through every encounter that when he
cries or whines, we will meet the fear or need head on for him. We aren’t giving
him everything he wants, but he gets comfort with the “no’s”. We still have and
will have for some time, really hard days. He gets stressed and attempts to
self sooth by rocking, head banging, and finger sucking especially at night and
in the car. When this happens, and if we can, we have forgotten our plans and
headed straight back to home where he feels safe. We can’t always do this of
course, as his pediatrician recently said “Jude is medically complex”. We have
so much testing and specialists to see, sometimes on a daily basis. I pushed
back many of his appointments but some are very necessary because Jude has some
scary medical diagnoses. During medical days we hold him, I carry him on my
chest, we whisper in his ear how loved he is and safe he is and how its almost
done. Jude has had a lot of medical procedures, hospitalizations, and surgeries
in China and he has multiple scars on his tiny body as proof, but he was always
alone. No one from the orphanage stays with these kids during hospitalizations and
foster moms have other children to care for, but that era of his life has come
to an end. Our lone warrior now has an army behind him, and he will not ever be
alone again.
(Above) Testing day
So let me end with what I started out to describe, our Jude.
He is stubborn, inquisitive, incredibly smart, silly, tough, brave, and beautiful.
He already makes us extremely happy, tired, anxious, challenged, and proud. He
is a momma’s boy through and through and I am not minding a bit! We knew Jude
would change a lot once home, and obviously we are seeing that, but what we did
not expect is how much WE would change from being around him! He challenges us
each in areas we needed to be challenged and changed in. We are learning
patience, sharing, compassion, and grace (among a slew of others). God is
literally using this boy to transform our lives daily and on days when we
struggle with our changes, His presence grows stronger and we find we are
capable of doing the seemingly impossible. God knows all our needs and is
working through many people to meet them. We have been truly humbled by our
family and friends. Their help through our first few weeks home kept us a float
and mentally sane! With our basic needs provided for, we were able to focus on the
more important stuff. We consider each now as a fellow warrior in Jude’s army. Jude
spent 1541 days, 220 weeks, and 50 months as an orphan; but he is an orphan no
longer! He has a family that extends far beyond the walls of our home and the
stretch of our arms. Many people have written with sincere hearts how blessed
and lucky our little man is, but I have to disagree with them. Jude is not lucky;
in fact, he is one of the unluckiest persons I have ever met. He was born with
several congenital life threatening issues, he was abandoned by his birth
parents, spent years in an orphanage, and has multiple medical needs requiring
more tests, pokes, and surgeries ahead of him. He is not lucky. He did not ask
for any of this. But, he is blessed, and loved, and cherished; both by us,
family, friends, and by God. And his life surely will be a testament to us all.
