Another birthday missed, but I’m still grateful
We are in the process of adopting from China for a second time. Before Covid-19, we hoped to bring him home before his next birthday. Last week he turned 11, and now we hope to bring him home this year. This sucks.
Adoption is a wonderful, but weird experience. You go from knowing about a kid to choosing to add him to your family, to feeling like your family is incomplete without him. Every holiday and family gathering becomes a celebration tinged with sadness he isn’t there.
We missed another birthday, another milestone. Our son spent another birthday in an orphanage. It breaks our hearts.
There is a boy, halfway around the world, that I both know and don’t. He is a part of our family and not. He is my son in my heart, but not on paper. I wait for him with gratitude.
Why am I grateful?
A few days before his birthday, my wife reached out to an organization we know in China. They have spent time with our son, teaching him and, from time to time, have been able to tell us how he is doing.
We asked if they could take him a birthday cake on his birthday. They had not been allowed to visit the orphanage due to Covid-19 and said it would not be possible. But, on a whim, they reached out to the orphanage anyway, and found out they…
