Teachable Moments From My Savior: Our Journey to Caleb 2007

Looking back 10 years ago as finally, all three of my children were together! What a blessed day and we praise God for the miracle of adoption! Today we celebrate 10 years !! God is so good!

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There is only one word to describe today, AMAZING! It is now 9:30 pm on "gotcha day" and all three of our children are asleep. That's right THREE! I can't believe we finally have Caleb! Matt and I have been saying that it seems surreal. We have waited so long and now he is here! It truly has been a remarkable day! I thought I would back up to the beginning and tell you how the day went.

We got the bags unpacked and somewhat settled and then I headed upstairs to where the other families were doing their paperwork. We will do ours after we have Caleb. After the meeting we were to get our money together and copies of our passports. We already had copies of our passports, but they wanted them on their paper since the paper size is different here. So we headed down to the front desk to exchange our money. They only let you do a certain amount per day. So now we are off to find a bank to do the exchange. We ended up down the road at the China Agricultural Bank. Long lines in the US are nothing. We got there at 11:15 and 1 1/2 hours later were leaving. There were five of us and you take a number. They were on 63 when we arrived and our first number was 73. Okay here comes the fun part. The first in our group went to the teller and 30 minutes later had their money exchanged. It is not even that much to exchange. We were supposed to have everything to Rosa by 12:00 but that didn't happen. It was taking so long for us that the Chinese people waiting were getting a little irate. One man started screaming at the teller because it was taking so long. Needless to say, we were glad to get out of there. That is the only time we had to do that. Everything was to Rosa by 1:15 and then we relaxed and had lunch, KFC!

We gathered on the bed and had prayer time together and then got all our things together; travel approval letter, gifts for the orphanage workers, and Caleb's backpack and headed down to the lobby at 3:30. By this time the butterflies were flying 747s in our stomachs! Even Ben said he had butterflies. As all the families gathered in the lobby you could feel the excitement! On to the bus! It was supposed to be a 15 minute ride, but with the traffic, more like 40 minutes. We went into the building, took the elevator to the 9th floor, walked out and heard them call our name. As soon as we turned around, there he was! Our little man! You could tell he was trying to be brave but soon the tears flowed. My heart was breaking for him. He settled down very soon and let me and Matt both hold him. In the meantime, everyone else is getting their babies. It was so exciting! The orphanage director answered some questions and then gave us a picture of Caleb's orphanage and a sheep statue since he was born in the year of the sheep. We said our goodbyes (we'll see her again tomorrow) took pictures and were back on the bus. He started warming up to Ben and Callie on the bus, but when we got to our room, he was already one of the family. He was laughing and smiling, he has even given me kisses!

Matt and I did our paperwork and then we decided to go eat - McDonalds! We walked in and got lots of stares. Caleb enjoyed his first chicken nugget and fries. The whole time he ate, he would just stare at Matt and smile. He loves him already! We got back to the room and it was bath time. He loved it! He had so much fun in the tub, blowing the bubbles and he wasn't scared a bit. Callie showed him how to brush his teeth and then we gathered and said bedtime prayers and it was hugs and kisses. It was funny, we heard they are very protective of their shoes. He didn't mind taking them off to get in the tub, but when he got his pajamas on, he put his shoes right back on. He is sleeping in them now. He laid there and I rubbed his sweet face and sang "Jesus loves me" and he drifted off to sleep. No tears! I pray he sleeps peacefully!

I thought about Moses today before we left. How his mother loved him so much and put him in a basket to save his life. I wonder if Caleb's birth mother was watching today from around the corner to see his "forever family" come to take him to safety. I pray that God gives her a peace to know that he is safe and loved and where he is supposed to be.

As I sit here now, watching all three of my beautiful children sleep, I am so overcome with emotion. God is so awesome! He knew before I was born that this was to come and He put it all in place. He is the Living God, and we sense His presence to strong! God has indeed blessed us with this miracle of adoption and I give him total praise!

Thank you for your prayers! We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow!

In His Mighty Grip!

Matt, Allison, Ben, Callie, and Caleb!