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| Caleb at "Gotcha" |
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| Caleb 5 years later! |
I sit here this morning in awe of our Lord as I look back to
this day 5 years ago! On May 9, 2007,
Guang Yue Chuan left a Chinese orphanage that had been the only home he had
ever known and joined his “forever family”.
Nevermore an orphan but a very loved and special boy to be forever known
as Caleb YueChuan Jordan! I can almost
hear those same noises and smell those same aromas I did just 5 years ago in
Guangzhou, China. Waking up that morning I was so excited and somewhat nervous
to be meeting my new son! I had only
seen him in pictures and he was never smiling in any of them, so did that mean
he was a very unhappy child or did he even have any teeth? I didn’t know. Would he be scared of me, would he want to
come with me, would he love me? These
were all the questions that were going on in my head that whole day as we
rushed around the city getting all our final paperwork completed.
Finally, it was time to go downstairs and meet the other
families for our bus ride to pick up our children. Matt, Ben, Callie, and me gathered on the bed
to pray for the last time as a family of four and the peace we all had was
overwhelming. I remember loading on our bus,
which was typically full of chatter and laughter, but this particular ride was
rather quiet with a bunch of anxious, excited, families! That had to be the longest bus ride I have
ever taken. Lol! When we pulled up to
the Civil Affairs building, we all filed off the bus and headed in. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were told that they would bring our
children to us in alphabetical order so we should have been around 4th
or 5th. That would give us
time to get our cameras ready and enjoy some of the others welcome their
children, but as soon as we walked in the door, we hear in broken English,
“Jordan family!” As I turned around,
there he was! My son, my Caleb! After all these months of praying at this
stranger in a picture, there he was, my son!
He was so scared.
Poor thing was trying to be brave but tears were rolling down his little
face and his nanny tried to comfort him by telling him “Mama”, “Baba” (mom and
dad) but my heart broke for him. This
child’s whole life was being changed in that moment and I cannot even fathom
what was going on in his little head. Of
course, the next thing I did is what every mother does when her child is hurting;
she picks them up and loves on them. He
let me pick him up and that was it….all my fears were erased because I was
holding my son. It was so natural and
perfect! I will never forget that
moment. He still didn’t know quite what
to make of it all but I just held him close and told him that mommy was here
and how much I loved him. Then he got
the wonderful opportunity to love on his daddy for the first time, and his new
brother and sister. Finally, we were
complete! Thank you sweet Jesus!
For those first 45 minutes, he was very somber and confused,
but once we returned to our hotel room his beautiful smile was revealed! He began laughing and playing with all of us
and seemed so at ease. I could not get
my camera to take pictures fast enough. Not
only did he have teeth but he also had the most beautiful smile ever! From that
point on, that smile remains his trademark! For the rest of the evening he
laughed and enjoyed his new family.
As we put him to bed that night, we all gathered on the same
bed for prayer, as we did that morning, and shared with Caleb, for the first
time, the most precious name he would ever hear….the name of Jesus! I was able to rock my son and sing, “Jesus
Loves Me” as he drifted off to sleep.
What a moment! Matt and I looked
over the hotel room that night as all “3” of our children were asleep and just
praised our God for the miracle of adoption!
We took a leap of faith 2 years before that we would say “yes” to God
and follow him down the road of adoption not knowing what was in store. Praise God we did! What a magnificent road it has been! His ways are perfect and his plan never
fails!
By the grace of God,
our family is complete...our family is forever!
“For I know the plans I have
for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans
to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
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