I saw a "Family Circle" comic today that made me think of our adoption process. It said, "We came from Mommy's tummy, but Joseph was adopted so he came from his mommy's heart." So true.
On November 5, 2010 we committed to adopt Micah. This time of year was exciting, nerve-wracking, and emotional for us. We had so much to do to bring our new son home. We were deep in prayer and figuring out the finances, as well as filling out endless forms to complete our first "paper pregnancy." Some days throughout that 6 months I wondered if we'd ever really get to meet our new son, others I would just cry endlessly because I wanted him in my arms so badly, yet there he was half a world away stuck in a dark, cold orphanage (at least that's how I pictured it), others I thought there was no way to gather all the paperwork needed (I literally fought forces to get signatures on some of those forms!) I cried A LOT more during this process than any pregnancy, and my heart physically hurt for my boy. I had NO updates on him at all during the 6 months before we got to Ukraine. I didn't know if he was okay, I didn't know if somehow he might know we were coming for him. I prayed that the Lord would prepare his heart for us. It was an emotional roller coaster and harder than any pregnancy I've had (I've had 6! Four babies and two miscarriages).
The only thing we had were four pictures from one day of his life, a couple baby pictures that belonged to another boy but we were told were Micah's, and one that we just weren't sure if it was Micah because he looked SO SAD!
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| Then: Jackson Golden and Micah Ray, July 7, 2010 (both were 2 years old). Both went home with their forever families within weeks of each other in the summer of 2011. |
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| Happy all the time! |
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| Cute little teeth! |
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| This is the picture that captured our hearts. This ONE picture let us know that Micah was our son! |
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| January 2011 - I knew in my heart it was him, but this picture haunted me because he didn't have the same light in his eyes. |
Then finally, on May 21, 2011, I got to hold our son for the first time! He jumped over that hut wall like he'd known me forever! This was our first moment. I was crying if you can't tell. There's a good photo of him with Barry too, but I can't find it on this computer :/
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| May 21, 2011 - Our first moment |
And now, here we were are just a little over two years from the day we found out about this complete stranger that God had prepared for our family. What a lucky family we are! He is such an amazing little boy, so full of life and laughter, so full of love. He legally became Micah Charles Ray on June 21, 2011, and I brought him home on July 6, 2011 to our waiting family. What a day! What an adventure!
And here is our little man at 4 1/2 years old. All ready for his second Christmas in America, with his forever family :)
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| I love having a family!!!! |
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| Well I said HE was ready... none of the rest of us were in this photo :) A perfect picture of a totally imperfect family with all the love in our hearts to give the children God sent to us to raise. We are the lucky ones, truly. I only wish Fischer and Morgan could have been at this photo shoot! |
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