In Our Arms

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children are a reward from him"

Psalm 127:3

Our hearts of full of so many emotions as we sit here with a precious boy peacefully napping. Just a few hours ago, within minutes of our meeting, the panic of this life changing event set in. He immediately started to yell "NO, NO, NO!" Of course, we know this is very normal as he had just said his final goodbye to his foster family this morning when he was brought to the orphanage. However, it was very upsetting as he screamed, hit, and scratched at us for over an hour. During this time, Mark and I had to switch off holding him as he is very strong. Gracie began to cry and was quite upset with how things were going. This was in great contrast to Joy's arrival which was mostly calm (She began crying after returning to the hotel. It lasted 3 days). During our tag teaming, I was able to discuss with the administrators Joshua early life and give them a crash course in care for children with nevi. They told us they have a little girl in their care who has many more than Joshua. They truly had caring hearts and were so excited to see pictures of Joy and here about her surgical journey. They gave us a book full of photos of Joshua dating back to a month old when he first arrived in his foster home. His foster mother did get the letter and package we sent in January and Joshua had been looking at our pictures for several months. He knew exactly who we were and why we were there. It truly broke our hearts to see him so upset. However, as soon as we left and got in our van to return to the hotel, he began to calm and even gave Daddy smiles. He thinks Daddy is very funny. The guide even called Mark a "big kid". Imagine that!!! He became upset again after we got to our room, but enjoyed the bath very much. He allowed me to bath him and played with the bath toys. We are very glad we have Matthew and Grace as he enjoys watching them.

We can't thank our family and friends enough for your diligent prayers and thoughts. Our God can move mountains and change hearts in an instant. PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM!! Please continue to pray for our this transition in the next few days, Joshua's health (several spots will need to be checked by the dermatologist right away) and for our continued health.