Not long now

In less than 48 hours, Robert and I will be boarding a plane for West Africa.  I'm beyond excited and the details are beginning to fall into place so that I can leave with assurance that everything is fine with Maleah and Haley while we're gone.  I will miss them greatly and wish that they could accompany us to Burkina.  I wish that our whole family was able to go and meet Arouna for the first time.  But ages of our children and timing doesn't allow this to be possible.  As I sit and consider Arouna becoming part of our family, it's impossible for me not to think of the little boys that first led me to want to adopt special needs.

Theo and Ezekiel are their names.  They were roommates in an orphanage in North Haiti.  Theo had hydrocephalus, an illness where the liquid doesn't drain from the brain, so that the head swells to a sometimes massive size.  Theo's head was so large that he couldn't hold it up, and was barely able to move his body.  I fell in love with Theo from a picture on their website and then when our family took a family vacation to Haiti to serve in the orphanage, I met Theo in person.  He was a gorgeous little boy and I loved laying on the floor by his cot and singing to him or taking him out for a walk in the stroller.  Ezekiel was his roommate and was relatively new to the orphanage the first time I met Theo.  Ezekiel would be laying on the floor too when I would be there singing to Theo and his smile would light up a room.  He has the sweetest dimples and at the time, the cutest dreadlocks.  He loved to be sung to and loved to go for walks in the stroller.  I was in love with the both of them.

We returned from Haiti in 2011 and immediately our family began talking of adoption.  All of the family wanted to adopt, each with our favorite kids from the orphanage.  I knew at that time though that God had given me a passion for special needs. Two little roommates and about 3 others at the orphanage with special needs had woven their way into my heart and there was no turning back. The joy that they show and the challenges that they overcome daily is beyond my understanding.  They are truly, each one, a gift from God and I consider it a privilege to be able to adopt a child with special needs.

 Though adoption did not work out for us in Haiti at that time, I will never forget the 2 little boys that helped to place this desire in my heart.  Unfortunately, Theo died in 2012 on his 3rd birthday.  Ezekiel is 4 years old now and still in Haiti at the orphanage waiting for his forever family to discover the gift that he truly is.  Are you that family?  If so, please don't wait til it's too late for Ezekiel.