They Should Pay You.......

Tonight as I was tucking our youngest son into bed he started asking me about Lemme. He wanted to know if Lemme knew that we were trying to adopt him, if we were going to get to bring him home soon, and what I thought Lemme had done today. After his questions about Lemme he started to ask why it took so long for us to get to come to bring him home. I told him that I was so sorry that it took so long and then I started telling him a story that I hadn't told him before. The story of our process to bring he and Tia home.

I shared with Garrett that God clearly told us that they were to be our children and that our adoption agency said that it would not be possible for them to be ours (he even giggled when I told him that I literally got sick in the Concord Mills parking lot on my birthday when the phone call came- I told him I would show him the spot next time we were there). I explained that Werke (his birth mom) couldn't be located and without her they couldn't be adopted. I explained that we loved them so much that we got on a plane to go to Ethiopia to look for his mom. I shared how amazing God was to help us find her within a few short hours of being in Ethiopia.

I went on to tell him that the process was long because the government had us fill out many papers (many was an understatement here for those of you who haven't experienced it!), we had to be fingerprinted many times, we had to have a home study completed, and paperwork had to be finished in Ethiopia as well. He had questions about each thing that I had listed. This boy knows how to ask some questions and he also knows how to prolong bedtime.......

He had the most questions about the home study and I tried to answer each one in a way that he would understand. His last question about the home study was, "Mom, when the lady came and looked at our home did she make you pay her for writing about our good house and good family?" I shook my head and answered, "Yes." He then wanted to know how much money she wanted for making sure we were a nice family with a house that he could live in. I then said, "Garrett, the homestudy cost about $2,500." He didn't miss a beat and he said, "Mom, the government, the homestudy lady and the finger print place- They should pay you for being a nice family. You made a nice place for us to live and you were a nice family and why would they make you pay? I just don't get it at all!"

I sat quietly after his last question and statement as tears welled up in my eyes and thought if he only knew the entire expense and process. I explained that things but not people cost money- I shared that I would have paid any amount I needed to pay to make sure I had everything I needed to make sure he could be mine. I explained that when God said that he was to be my son that I was willing to do anything required to follow God and bring him home. I hugged him and made a promise that I would do the same for his brother, Lemme.

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.