A Letter to Samuel

Dear Samuel,

Today is the big day.  We have worked tirelessly over the past four months to get to this point, and now it hardly seems real! There were days it seemed like we would never be finished with the paperwork and now we sit in Nanning, only hours away from meeting you.

Last night you slept in your familiar bed with your foster family for the last time.  You were surrounded by children you recognize, adults who have cared for you, a language you understand and speak, and food that is familiar and comforting.  Today you will come by van or train with an orphanage official (or perhaps your favorite ayi if we are lucky), they will carry you into the Civil Affairs office and hand you to two strangers.  We cannot begin to imagine how terrifying this will be for you and the courage it will take to go with us.  In those first few moments or days you will not know how we love you, how we have longed for you and how the Lord placed you in our hearts and gave us a confidence that you are our son.

We are praying that God would help you to feel safe with us and see love in our eyes and our actions. We are praying that He would give you the opportunity to feel you have said goodbye to the people who have cared for you and stood in the gap until we could get here.  We are praying that you would know with all your heart that this is forever, that you will never be left again or alone.

You are about to step into a world of uncertainty, and we pray that by being in our family you will come to know these things as certain:  Our Father in Heaven loves you unconditionally and without ceasing.  Your Daddy and I love you wholeheartedly and believe you are worth all the paperwork, all the traveling and hardship.  We would do it again and again to make you our son.  You have hundreds of friends and family praying for you today and we believe that their prayers will get us through these difficult first days together.  You have 3 precious siblings who were hand picked by God to be in our family just like you.  They are silly, fun, and so excited to have you join them.  We can't wait to see the fun you will have together.

We are praying that Lord would give us words, wisdom and vision of what you will need in our first moments together and in the days to come.  We love you dearly, our sweet baby boy! We cannot wait to know you and call you our own.

Love,
Mommy