I'm amazed at how my Savior can take any and every circumstance around me to show me more about him. My prayer has always been that this journey of life I'm on would continually bring honor and glory to him, so by using every opportunity; my mistakes, my successes, and my day-to-day adventures, he teaches me how to use it for his glory. This life he blessed me with is ALL about him! So, these are my thoughts, my heart cries, and my lessons from his glorious Word. These are the teachable moments from my Savior!

Psalm 25:4-5 "Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

~ Forever a Family ~

Caleb at "Gotcha"
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

No comments:

Post a Comment