Josiah... age 11 yrs old- His story- God's Child

Josiah was adopted in April 2003. He turned 3 yrs old just after he came home. He was adopted from Russia and was our last child ( so far) that was adopted from Russia. We actually had met him in Dec. on our first trip to visit Mya . We also met Anna then. ( She was in the same orphanage as Mya) but Josiah was in Kashin which was another 2 hr drive. We asked to meet any child that would be hard to place. They said they had this 2 yr old boy with kidney issues. So we traveled to meet him by ourselves without our translator/coordinator to his orphanage. She could not go that day for some reason and we wanted to meet him... We did and knew he was to be our son. Even though we did not speak Russian and no one even our driver spoke English it was a day we do not forget. The driver was so nice and accomadating... When we got to Josiah's orphanage we were sent to the director's office and met her and others ( not sure who they all were). They set out a tablecloth across a desk and boiled tea water and shared candy and cookies with us... all of us smiling at each other and using little bits of each other's language. It has always amazed me at how much we can communicate by using smiles and other ways of expressing kindness...They took very good care to make sure we were fed and taken care of... then they brought Josiah in :) He had very red and chubby cheeks and toddled in ready to play. We met with him all of an hour and decided very soon we would adopt him. Unfortunately he was missing one piece of paper so when we returned in Jan. 2003 for court for Anna and Mya we could not bring him home. We returned in April for him. His kidney issues were he has "double" kidneys and lots of pain ???? Upon getting him home and visits to a couple of Urologist it was decided he had a kidney stone the size of a marble in his kidney... very rare and unusual but the only solution was to remove it surgically. The only hospital in Wash. DC and Baltimore that does surgical removals of stones for children is Children's National Medical Center in DC. - Dr. Pohl. So that is where he had his rare stone removed... He did fine and was alot more comfortable but still had some pain... He had been tested for parasites like giardia when he first came home and it was negative for all... Well 6 months home and still having pain he was retested and found to have giardia ( which he shared with me) ... He was fine after his medicine and so was I thankfully. They did some testing as to why a child would develope a kidney stone and the only thing they could figure out was he was given some medicine that you need to give lots of hydration with and the hospital in Russia did not.. that is what was on the medical report from Russia... Our doctor here was not able to give any other reason ???

Now he is a healthy, happy and energetic boy. He is one of the most affectionate children. He comes up to touch or smell us often thru out the day. He needs lots of hugs and attention. He is a people pleaser and sometimes gets swayed down a path by the older boys. He is good in sports and struggles in school. He has a diagnosis of ADHD and has been on adderall xr and it helps him have some control of his impulses and attention.

Last nite he shared from his devotions something that was on ,"His heart". He does a Focus on the Family devotional and this was from that. He felt like God wanted him to share with us and so he did. God's Children- Do you know anyone who was adopted ? Adopted children weren't born into their families. Instead, their parents chose them. They then became their adoptive parents' own children, just as though they were born into their families.

Jesus came here so that we could all become one family together. Do you believe that Jesus is your Savior ? If you do, then you are one of God's own children, reborn into His family.

Now when he read the first question we all laughed... because we know a "few" people who have been adopted. As he read on I knew that Josiah gets it... He really understands... How about you ?