Monday, December 10, 2012

Where He Came From

We received more info this week.

Last week I posted that we
received the most precious picture
of our little guy and
spoke with another mom about
how Tobias is doing in Congo right now.

Well soon after that,
the same couple posted
several VIDEOS of Tobi!!!!!!
Wow, we did NOT expect to have such
a glimpse into the little person that he is!

There were also many pictures.
They were so thoughtful to capture these
for all the parents that are here...
waiting.

So that made our WEEK!
We've watched those videos so many times!
We can't get over how gorgeous Tobias is
and how precious his smile is!
We got to see him look at our
pictures and hear his voice say,
"Mama," "Papa," and "Noelle!"
"Joy" was way too hard for a French speaking child!

Anyway,
we are on cloud nine with these
precious pictures and videos.

And now we have some more information
about where Tobias was before
he came to be at this orphanage.
I'd like to share it with you
(whoever reads this!)
because I feel like many of you
are a part of his little life already!
So here is the information we received:

In March of this year (2012),
a man saw some people gathering around
a little boy outside a church
in a certain village in Congo.

He approached them,
and saw that the little boy was crying,
holding a donut in one hand
and a bag in the other.

He asked the little boy who it was that brought him to the church,
and he said, his "mama"
and that his name was Chrinovic.
(that's his given name, we are changing it to Tobias) 

The man took him around the neighborhood,
but no one recognized him.
He took him to his home for the night,
but he was inconsolable. 
He cried all night.

He did the same thing the next day.
No one recognized our little guy.
He finally looked inside the bag that
Chrinovic was holding and found
a shirt, 2 pairs of pants,
and a note.
It had his full name on it.
That was all.

This is when the man fully
realized that this little boy's
mama had abandoned him in front of that church.
She left him with
a donut, a few pieces of clothing,
and his name.

He was then taken to another orphanage in town,
where he stayed for 3 months.
No one came looking for him while he was there.

After that, he was recommended to
Didier's orphanage where he is now.

He has been there since June.
From what we've been told,
he obviously has been granted peace
that he did not know before!
He is now a super happy little boy!

I can only pray that he does
not remember that terrible night
that his birth mama left him.

I don't know what kind of a life
he had with her,
but I do know that he was frightened
and definitely felt
"abandoned"
when he was left.

So that is what we know.
We will probably never know anything
else about where or who he came from. 

We are thankful for what The Lord
has allowed us to know,
and we are thankful for what He has kept
from us.

We are so thankful for those that
have helped bring him
to the loving place he is now
and that they have been used by our
Creator to bring him to his
forever family.
To his new Mama and Papa
that will love him unconditionally
and share the love of Christ with him.

    

Friday, November 30, 2012

Tobias News!

We are blessed.
Regardless of what a week brings or 
doesn't bring, we are a very blessed
family.
We've been given the gift of Christ,
which surpasses all else.
We've been given the gift of two
beautiful girls, with a little boy on the way.

But we also received some very precious news.
We got to see some pictures of Tobias smiling yesterday!
I can't tell you what a difference
that makes!!!
He's still absolutely gorgeous,
but now we see how happy he is!
A couple that just brought their little guy home
from the same orphanage shared the pictures with us.
 
I SO wish I could post his picture on here!
I'm thinking about opening a
private Facebook page
where I can share with only select people.
Another adoptive family has done that,
so I might give it a try.

So THAT was yesterday.
TODAY I was able to have a conversation
with a mom that was actually
in the airport,
traveling with her husband and
two new children from the same orphanage as well!
They arrived home this evening.

Wow.
What a blessing.
She told me how well Tobias is doing.
She told me that he is very well adjusted and mature
for his age
(and for being an orphan).
His smile is infectious,
he is super happy,
and he knows who we are!

We sent a photo book filled with 
pictures of us down with her.
She was able to sit down with him
and actually point out everything in the book to him.
He just got so excited looking at his family!
He even repeated that we were
HIS "mama and papa"!!!

Goodness gracious, I couldn't stop the tears as she was telling me!

She said he was so proud of his family
and they went through the book
a few times before he showed the others.

Phew.
THEN, the next day,
she brought out just a photograph that we 
had sent of all of us together.
She said he just lit up,
took the picture,
went to a corner by himself
and talked to himself while looking at
his new family.

She said he had the biggest smile!

He stayed there a few minutes
before showing the picture to everyone.

So she says he certainly knows who we are,
recognizes us,
knows we are coming for him
(well, only Chris),
and is ready for us!

I mean, it's such a joy to hear that our kids
behave well in nursery or something...
but to hear that our son,
whom we've never met,
is excited to know who we are!
Is proud to call us mama and papa.
Is excited to know that we are HIS!
 Man, I really could hardly relay this conversation
to Chris, I was so emotional.

We really can't describe what it
means to us....to know that he is aware
of how much we love him!

So that's our newest update.
Very exciting for us.
Makes the time seem a little longer
knowing we will be waiting for a while.

But we are so thankful that he is 
in such good hands.
The kids really love it there.

In fact,
some of the parents feel a hint of remorse
taking the kids away from this great
life they have!

However, 
no matter how much these caregivers love them,
they need a dad,
they need a mom,
 they need a family.

So we are grateful for where he is,
and very anxious to bring him 
HOME!!!

Thank you so much for caring for us
and our son as we learn
more about him
and take things step by step
in this adoption process.

Can't wait for the next!
 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A Blessed Evening...


Wow.
What a night we had on Sunday!

We had our Adoption Benefit Dinner Sunday evening!

Man, so much prep,
So much food,
So much service,
And SO many blessings :)

Chris, my sister, and I stayed at the church
the entire day getting ready
after the service ended.

We had others come help us too and things 
came together very nicely leading up to the dinner.

Then people started showing up!
And more people...
And MORE people!!

We had to set out an extra table!

That was actually pretty exciting :)

We had one family attend that we've gotten to 
know recently who actually brought their son home over a year ago!

We also had Bob Wheatley, the VP of Compassion for Congo
show up!

Other guests were also there that don't attend our church.
We had so much support!

We had some amazing friends serve the tables
with Chris and help me in the kitchen.

People got their food,
we could hear them chattering
and laughing from the kitchen!

I was so afraid no one would want to 
participate in the dessert auction,
but I was very wrong and people really enjoyed it!
 Everything sold (over 15 desserts)!

When the time came for me and our team to take a break 
to watch the slideshow Chris put together,
I could hardly compose myself.

For the first time, I just looked around the room at the 
75+ people that were there to support us.
They were there to say they want
Tobias home.
They love us.
They love our family.
And they are standing by our side
in this crazy journey!

So all this is flooding my head
and pictures of our son's current home
start flashing on the screen!
There were pictures of little ones that will soon
be home in America with their forever families.

And then, when the picture came up to
introduce Tobias to our family and friends,
everyone cheered and clapped!!

Man, I was overwhelmed!
Chris did the slideshow to a song called
"How Wonderful the Father's Love"

Look it up, it's by Sovereign Grace.
GREAT song.
 Wonderful reminder of His unending love.

So then the night slowly came to an end.
People were talking and kids were running around all over
like they should be.

We TRIED to get our servers to leave,
but they ended up staying long after us to clean up.
I know, it's blurry, but it's cute :)

We can't express how thankful we are to all who helped.
But I must point out that our 7 friends
(my sister and brother included)
got people's orders,
their food,
their drinks,
took their plates,
asked me for all the things I kept forgetting,
and then wouldn't let us clean up.

I just came back from cleaning up what was left.
It took me a half hour.
I gotta say...we may not have LOTS 
of friends, but the ones
we have are true friends.

At the end of the night
we received close to $2,000 to bring our son home.

Can the blessings ever cease???
We have a long ways to go financially.
Probably at least $10,000 more.
And as always, we aren't anxious.
We know He'll provide.

Oh yea!
We had an ultrasound today :)
Tobi has a brother!

In summary:
We are blessed by our Father.
We are blessed with our friends.
We are so thankful for our family.
We are overwhelmed with support from our
family in Christ.
We are excited to have TWO little boys :)
And we have alot of work to do! 
Haha...
Thanks for reading!!
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