Outside, the landscape was brushed with white, as a thin layer of snow covered the ground. Not surprising since it was so cold, yet amazing since Beijing receives so little precipitation each year. A lovely backdrop for our ride to the airport. Then we walked to our terminal and I realized with snow on the runways, it may have been better if it snowed a different night...
Cecelia, our other CCAI rep, rode with us on the bus this morning. She asked us how we slept and said she hoped we enjoyed our time in Beijing. Then she spoke a little about the coming days and our next set of CCAI reps that will help us complete paperwork. Cecelia thanked us for adopting Chinese babies and for giving them a home. As she turned her face I thought perhaps she needed to sneeze, but as she turned back it was apparent she was holding back tears. This beautiful soul, who introduced adoptive families to China every single week, has still not forgotten how amazing this journey is. Apparently her heart is touched every time she thinks about an orphan finding his forever parents. For us, all of these children are matches made in heaven. Though I wonder, what is her story, and what brought her to participate in the adoption process? She may not even realize how important her role is in the beginning of this trip. Yet we are experiencing Elijah's culture and adjusting to this time zone so we can be prepared to meet him. I told her as we departed, "We are the blessed ones, thank you for sharing your babies with us."
We made it to Zhengzhou! (Albeit delayed like both our other flights.) The smog is way worse here.
On the bus ride to our next hotel, Yisha gave us name tags with our children's name in Chinese and Pinyin (English characters). She told us she had updates to pass out on our children, such as what they eat and when they sleep. Oh how my heart leapt with joy! We haven't received anything about Elijah since we first saw his sweet face on Match Day. Yisha handed the paper to Phillip who started reading it as I crossed the aisle to him. I said "Let me see Elijah's info!" and Phillip said "I think you mean Ethan's," as the front page said he likes to eat bananas and take baths. Every time we read a description of Elijah, it reminds us of Ethan. I hope they are the best of friends! Then we turned the page... My giggle quickly turned to outright weeping. I've been praying for healing for Elijah for a while now, not knowing what condition he's been in and having been so sick myself. Turns out, he had surgery without us. My heart dropped to the floor and my stomach turned. He had incredibly painful palate repair without a mother or father to hold him and love him and kiss him and tell him everything will be okay. He braved this all alone. Ok, so there was probably an amazing physician donating his time, a kind hearted nurse holding his hand, and maybe even a nanny stroking his hair. But it wasn't me. We weren't there. But we are now. And always will be Elijah, forever. Don't get me wrong, I didn't know how we were going to pay for that expensive surgery but I never, ever wanted him to do it without me either. God works in mysterious ways. I have to accept that. I thank Him for bringing us this far and bringing Elijah to us, no matter the cost. I see how well God has taken care of me and I know Elijah was in great hands. But oh how I wish I could hold him right now!
Please pray for us tomorrow. (I'm already an emotional disaster.) Please pray for courage, ours and his. Please pray for healing, physical and emotional. Please pray for all of the families with us, some of them first time parents, and all the new sons & daughters.
There will be a baby here tomorrow, grown in our hearts and delivered by a Chinese stork. :)
Funny mistranslation of the day: Our group tried to ask for bottled water at dinner but the waiter just brought us taller glasses of water with lemon.
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