Today, September 2nd is a deeply important day in our family. Today is the day we became a forever family. Our family of 4 grew by one more. Our Adoption story is so special to us and I want to spend each Gotcha Day sharing that story with you. Adoption is hard and so very amazing and I cannot imagine life without our little guy-TJ. God did BIG things leading up to September 2, 2013. I love looking back at the story that only God could have woven together so perfectly. A lot of the story was told through blog posts that I have put together below.
A Little Back Story
As a teenager I would probably have told you I wanted to adopt. I loved children and I loved to travel. The world and its people intrigued me. I was always moved by the commercials I would see of the sweet babies that needed homes. In reality though, I didn’t think about it much. It wasn’t really something Adam and I discussed while we were dating. In fact, what was discussed was the fact that we probably weren’t going to have any more children. Adam already had 2 girls and I was thrilled to become an immediate mother. After we married, I threw myself into parenting the best way I knew how. Every once in a while we would talk about the possibility of having a child together and one option we often landed on was adoption. We knew there would be some effort and cost in trying to conceive a child and we knew there were so many children already born that needed a family. All of the conversations usually ended with a “not right now.” We had a lot going on and we thought it just didn’t made sense.
The Trip That Changed Our Life
And then on February 23, 2012, I blogged, “I am blessed with the opportunity to serve in China, March 16-25! I am traveling with a team from Brentwood Academy to Beijing and then on to Luoyang to work in Maria’s Big House of Hope, a special needs orphanage for birth to 3 year olds.” This was a trip that would ultimately change our whole life. My friends and I joked in the time leading up to this trip about all of the babies I would try to bring home in my suitcase. I knew I would fall in the love with the children. I’ve done it on every mission trip I’ve ever taken and in every job I’ve ever had. I just had no idea how these children, and one in particular, would change my heart so dramatically.
After the Trip
After the trip (March 26, 2012) I posted this, “I think my blogging about the trip will be a process, because I am just starting to process it all. The trip was wonderful! It was fun to be with my brother and my best friend. It was fun to meet new friends and laugh hard and often. It was fun to see China. And it was completely life changing. Right now I am struggling with what is often called “re-entry” in mission’s classes. I came home sick, I am very jet lagged, and I feel like I left a piece of my heart at Maria’s Big House. I have been very emotional since getting home. I am also dealing with what to do next. I can’t save all 140 million orphans in the world. But I do know that God calls us to take care of the orphans in James 1:27. Please pray with me about how I as an individual, we as the Wright family, and us as the world can show hope to the orphans around the world.”
Seeing the orphans and loving on them for several days totally brought in to reality what it meant to be an orphan. It’s not that I had never been around children who were eligible to be adopted or who needed a family. I worked in social work for a long time. I have spent time with children who needed a home, but being in an orphanage was eye opening. I also learned a lot about what the future looked like for Chinese orphans diagnosed with special needs. While these children I met were very well taken care of and loved, there was not a lot of hope for them if they didn’t get adopted. In the days we spent at Maria’s Big House of Hope, I spent most of the time in the Little Mermaid Room. Most of these children were 1 ½-2 years old. They were new walkers and talkers and were so fun and busy. But there was a little baby, who always had the hiccups, that stole my heart.
Meet Roman
On March 29, 2012 I wrote this: “Meet Roman: Roman is a beautiful little boy who was born in August of last year. He has beautiful light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He is very small for his age, but can roll over like a pro and holds his head up well. He is quick to smile and his smile goes all the way to his eyes. His diagnosis as of now is bilateral cleft palate and he is scheduled to start his surgery process in April. He lives in the Little Mermaid Room on the second floor of Maria’s with other children with cleft palate diagnosis. Simply put, I fell in love with him. Roman is constantly on my heart and in my prayers. I joked while I was in China that he was small enough to fit in my suitcase. I would have him here with me in a heartbeat if that was God’s will. But what is God’s will for Roman and for me and my family? I selfishly want him here in TN, but is that really the plan?
Why did I meet Roman and fall in love with him? Because of him I want to advocate for the orphans. Because of him I want to tell others that God calls us to take care of the orphans, to care for the least of these and to feed His sheep. God’s plan for Roman in my life may be just to be a face and motivation for advocating. Or is it more? I know right now that Roman (along with all of the other 140 million orphans) needs a forever family. That is my first prayer. I worry about Roman constantly. His nannies love him, but he is one of many children in that room. He is not held or played with as much as I would like. But he is in a good place and that does give me a peace. A song popped in my head this morning that has been such a form of peace:
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the little bitty baby in His hands.
He’s got the little bitty baby in His hands.
He’s got the little bitty baby in His hands.
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
I am thankful that God has the whole world in His hands. I’m thankful that God created precious Roman and that God has great plans for him. My prayer today is that he would be happy and feel loved and that God would start creating a stirring in the family who will have Roman forever.”
Best News Ever
And then on March 29, 2012 I got to write the best post ever! “ The Wright family would like to announce that we are ADOPTING!!! We have started the process to hopefully adopt a little boy from China! Our application was accepted today and now the paperwork really begins!
We haven’t gotten to this point hastily and we have spent a lot of time in prayer. We both understand that James 1:27 tells us to take care of the orphans. Since coming home from China, Adam and I both have prayed about what that looks like to us. I fell in love with children over there, one in particular, but as I have blogged before I wasn’t sure what to do with that love and that desire to be of help. I was convinced that I needed to adopt a house full and Adam wasn’t feeling that call at all!! On Mother’s Day my sweet husband gave me a “mom” bead for my Pandora bracelet and told me he wanted to make me a mom again, this time through adoption! God has already given me the awesome responsibility of being a “madre dos,” as Ellie calls me, to two beautiful girls and I am excited about what the future holds for our family as we begin the adoption journey.
We covet your prayers as we go down this road. I know it will be longer than we would like and it will be tough. We are praying that God opens and closes doors as He sees fit and that He would guide each step that we take. There is a little boy in China that we are hoping to be matched with. For that to happen there has to be some good timing with our paperwork. So that is a prayer as well. If he is not the child God has for us then I know he has got the perfect one picked out for our family!
Thank you ahead of time for your prayers and support!”
It wasn’t until March 2013 that we were actually matched with Roman, who is now our little boy TJ. It was amazing to see God’s hand in the journey to bring him home! The journey to bring TJ home was tough. It was about 16 months of waiting and praying and doing a ton of paperwork. We didn’t even know for almost a year if we were actually going to get matched with the little boy I first met in China, but God orchestrated it perfectly.
Our Gotcha Day
TJ became ours and we became his on Sept. 2, 2013. Sixteen long months after we started the adoption process. The day will live on in our memories forever. From the bizarre way all of the adopting families boarded a bus at the hotel with no children and all returned back to the hotel with new family members, to the way TJ held our hand and ate ALL of the snacks we gave him. We had fun that day walking all over the hotel, exploring the elevator, and simply trying to figure each other out. He slept so well that first night with us, only to not sleep through the night again for a year and a half!
“Family-isn’t always blood. They are the people in your life that want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to make you smile, and love you no matter what.”
This is just our story. Not a single adoption story is alike. The callings are different, the journeys are different, the families are different, and the children are different, but the one thing that is the same is love. “All that we love deeply, becomes a part of us.”-Helen Keller
If you ever have questions about adoption, I would LOVE to talk with you! Just shoot me an email or hop over to Instagram!
