Saturday, March 27 - I don’t think that you can do this adoption thing, as a Christian, and not see the incredible parallels of parents pursuing a child to adopt into a family and our Heavenly Father pursuing his children to adopt into His family. Perhaps because our own adoption journey has been such a long and difficult one, it makes me appreciate being adopted into God’s family all the more! I am so grateful that our Father is relentless in pursuing his children, even when we turn from Him. It hit me hard in that first room at Cool-in-shock Orphanage, as we sat behind a desk like some sort of judge watching while these precious and innocent children were brought before us to be chosen (or not). I am no theologian, but I know, I know, I know that when the scriptures say that we are predestined and chosen, that there is more to this than some list God holds up checking off just the ones He desires to call his family. The call to come and join His family MUST be for all. None of these kids (especially the ones we said no to), deserve to live a life without a family. What John and I were asked to do in that room (and in each of the babyhouse rooms), to look upon innocent children and DECIDE who is worthy to be in our family is NOT a process I can ever picture my Abby Daddy doing. All are worthy in His eyes BECAUSE of what His Son has done. (Ok, getting heavy here but this has been intense and emotional.)
I hope that I never forget the beautiful picture played out before us yesterday afternoon on our second visit as John and I, the hopeful parents who are in pursuit of this little orphan boy, open the door into his playroom and call out his name. And he runs to us, not cooerced by his teachers, but willingly he runs and stands close beside us, not yet knowing us but trusting us. We learned today that he told his friends in his room last night that “my mama and papa are coming back for me tomorrow .” How much is that like our God who calls out to each one of us, “Come to me child and I will be your Abba daddy and you will be part of my family and share all of my inheritance.” How could anyone pass up our Father’s invitation to do life with Him?? This little boy will be giving up all that is familiar to him in his little babyhouse, his teachers/nurses, the 14 other children in his room. He sleeps in a very clean room with 8 beds lined up in a row on one wall and 7 beds on the other. (Kirill’s bed is by the window and radiator.) I really cannot imagine what the process looks like for 15 children, ages 3-6, to crawl in bed and go to sleep each night. I just know that it is void of parents to love on them before they close their eyes. Yet in this child’s willingness to leave the familiar life he knows and to begin a new life with his new family – his life will be changed forever – and he will inherit all that his new family has to offer. Pretty cool, huh?
10AM we had our 2nd day of bonding, this time with just me and John, Kirill and Zhanat. They have shown us where to obtain a key to the bonding room each day and we are now allowed to enter the babyhouse (without supervision) for our visits, go to the children’s room and call for Kirill and go into the bonding (good size play room loaded with toys probably donated from adoptive parents in the past) to play. Again, as soon as we opened the door to his classroom, Kirill runs to us, still clutching the big stuffed teddy bear we gave him yesterday. You can tell he feels proud to be singled out. All of the children come toward us, smiling, and reaching. I squat down and give hugs and “Preeviet” (hello) to as many as I can touch and then we are asked to leave his room. The worker says that it is too difficult for these children to become attatched to visiting parents because they all want to be chosen. (How does that grab your heart?) Kirill is fast with the puzzles and Lego’s. If something doesn’t fit or work he quickly adjusts and tries again. John brought along a flashlight that is fastened to a headband strap (for hiking) and Kirill gets a kick out of wearing this. The parrot puppet that squeaks (thank you, Kyle) is a hit as are the bubbles. Spending 2 hours in a room with a 5 yo that does not speak your language and with no other children along to interact with is a little bit of a challenge. We should be good and bonded after doing this twice a day for 14 days (MINUS Saturdays which is only once per day and Sunday which we will not visit but count as a day). We are required to take a picture of us with Kirill each day to show our judge at court. This morning, he is wearing what he had on yesterday morning so don’t think it will be a big problem on which days of bonding are which (for pictures sake).
THE NAME: Most of you know this, but Scott, the name we have chosen to call this little boy, is my brother’s name, who lost his battle to cancer last July. It was after lunch yesterday, after having made our decision to adopt this little boy, that John said, “Let’s name him Scott.” Still tear up when I write this, but this really excites me. Scott and I talked a lot during our adoption journey. As much crap (there’s really not a pretty or proper word to describe what we’ve been through) as we’ve endured in our adoption pursuit, it never compared with all that Scott endured as he fought so hard to beat his lymphoma. Yet, Scott always had words to encourage us and scripture to strengthen us, never trivializing what we were going through. I cannot think of a better way to honor someone I love so much and if this little guy has any of the zest for life, the humor, and the love for people that his uncle Scott had, he will be an amazing kid! So we won’t be calling him Faith but he is named after an incredible guy with an incredible faith. I love you, Scott.
Hey we just found out (thank you, Jamie) that the name Kyrill is the name of one of the two brothers who brought Christianity to the Slavik people in the ninth century. So there you have it –
SCOTT KIRILL KING.