Can you imagine?

Can you imagine what it will be like for Gracie and Andrew when we meet again? We had a wonderful time in July with both of them... Gracie is from Vidin and Andrew is from Yambol. We visited with each one for 5 days.... Andrew immediately went to us and loved to be held and rocked and walked and sung too.... he tried to suck his thumb and he made these precious sounds of air puffing when he was content.... Gracie has the biggest eyes and she is ever so curious...she was highly motivated by any treats (mostly bananas) that we brought to share with her. Then at the end of our 5 days we had to say goodbye... Andrew was spoiled by the end of our visits which was such a positive sign that we had connected... and Gracie who we were told was non-verbal was saying,"mamma and poppa and even said Dancho when she saw his picture on the computer." She ran into the van when we left anxious to go with us....

Can you imagine what they will feel... will they remember us from such a short visit? I wore my perfume every day we went... it is nothing really special but all our our orphans share later that the smell of my perfume is my smell.... one that is a positive reminder that a momma and daddy came for them.... will Dancho remember my smell... will he remember Daddy's hands that he loved to hold or our faces that he felt tenderly with his fingers? Will Gracie want to go again with us so willingly? Will she talk to us as soon as our son, Isaac who also was non verbal and had institutional autism like we think she does? He spoke fluent Russian while we were in Moscow just days after we picked him up....

Will they enjoy being clean... getting a bath? Having their teeth brushed or their hair combed? Will they love to eat and eat the foods they choose and the amounts (within reason)? How will it feel like to them to have a full "tumach" as Mya says ? If they get cold how will they feel when we put warm clothes on them or a nice cozy blanket? If they get scared or sick imagine how they will feel to have loving hands stroke them or arms to hold them.... forever if they need to be held.

Then imagine how we will feel as we leave to go get them... excited and anxious and knowing that they are ours now forever... imagine our first meeting and how the ache in our hearts will now be gone because we are together... imagine my tears as I see the precious faces of these two dear ones now with me... imagine how Joseph and Cate will feel being back in an orphanage again but, being on the giving side.. welcoming their new brother and sister . Imagine the excitement back home as we share thru our skyping and calls the new brother and sister and how they respond to us... imagine coming home on Christmas eve and the reunion of our family at Dulles airport... then imagine Christmas together celebrating the birth of Jesus and the birth of this new life into our family again....

Then imagine what it must be like for those precious ones we leave behind.... and maybe you can imagine your own journey into adoption... and imagine adopting a child who already had imagined many times in their hearts what a loving family must be like... and aches for that to be real....Can you imagine?