Backing up a little bit...
This last week, I had been in contact with our social worker and also a woman in China who helps with care packages for the orphans asking both of them if it would be possible to get an updated picture of Sammy in time for Phil's birthday next week. I know we are penny pinching so I thought that my gift to him would be praying for God to allow us to get an update on Samuel in time for Phil's birthday.
In talking with the social worker, I was surprised to find out that our initial set of questions we sent needed to be narrowed down to 5-10 total (instead of the 17 we sent) and that we could try to resend only a few this time. Maybe we'd get a better response. Originally, we'd been told that we could ask whatever we wanted.
I contacted the care package lady and asked her if she thought she could get a video and a picture for us in time for Phil's birthday. She said she would call the orphanage and ask if they would allow her to do it and then get back to me.
She emailed back Thursday morning:
i called orphanage today,they said
he had surgery now ,still in the hospital
at beijing ,so i am asking if i can go visit him and take a video for you .
they said they will ask the Director of the orphanage and call me back tomorrow ,
i will let;s you know after they call me back
My dad described it best - a bucket of cold water! I called Phil right away and told him what I had been trying to do as quickly as I could and said that I just found out Sammy had surgery and was in the hospital in Beijing. He was driving into work. We were both stunned.
Our baby was in the hospital.
I can't remember the exact sequence. I think I called our social worker first but I'm not sure. Anyway, we talked to our agency and told them what we'd just found out and they immediately started trying to find out answers. I called my dad and cried and cried after sending a text to my sisters. Phil called his mom after he was at work.
Our social worker called back a little while later, this time with the assistant international director on speaker. Both of them were very emotional, too. They said they had nothing more they could tell me and were hurting for us and doing everything they could to try and find out what was going on with Sammy. I cried again. They said that the thought the China facilitator working for our agency had already gone to bed but that they were trying to get ahold of her.
We waited all day, all evening, and all night and still her nothing about our baby.
Again, the two women called and said they knew nothing. But this time, they said that the facilitator had emailed during the night saying that she was aware of the situation and had sent the info about the surgery a couple of weeks ago.
They emailed back and asked her to resend the information.
At this point, we now know what type of surgery Sammy had and that he's been in the hospital for a few weeks. He is expected to return to the orphanage sometime around the end of the month (uh... tomorrow???), but we have yet to hear how he's doing.
We sent a list of questions last evening that were sent on to the orphanage, but they have to call the hospital in Beijing and get the info on Samuel and then send it back to the facilitator and then it's translated before getting sent on to us. So, at this point, I don't expect to hear for a few more days.
The bright spot in all of this, the special gift that God gave us, is that all 17 questions were sent back to us with answers. Our original questions that we asked when we got our pre-approval came this morning (with the news that Sammy's surgery was a couple weeks ago and that he'd be going back soon).
And not only did we get answers, we got 5 FIVE!!! pictures of him as a baby.
So without further ado, I would like to share the most precious things we have of our son right now:
2 months old:
6 months old:
7 1/2 months old:
9 months old:
Here's some other fun stuff about our son:
he drinks formula from a bottle (you may not think this is significant, but Phoebe has prayed ever since we told her we were going to adopt that we would get our little one a bottle and a cradle. I've told her Sammy won't sleep in a cradle, but it was a joy this morning to tell her that Sammy drinks a bottle. :)
his favorite toys: balloon, block, ball
his favorite foods: fruit, meat sausage, bread, and cake
he was a big eater and slept well as an infant and was always impatient
he can say simple words like Mama and A-yi (Auntie - maybe what he calls the Nannies??)
God has given us grace today. A blanket of peace has settled over me. Phil described the balance as peaceful contentment and frantic helplessness.
Samuel, we would have wanted to be at your bedside day in, day out as you recovered from surgery. That was our plan. But clearly God had other plans. I've prayed for three days that you would feel Jesus cradling you, feel His breath on your cheek, smell the sweetness of His comfort. I truly believe that He is there with you, doing a way better job at caring for you than I could have. I'm so very sad that you are in a hospital so far away from me, but I know that God is not far away from you. I know, too, that God never sleeps. I hope and pray that you are ok. I think you are. I hope we hear soon. But even more than that I hope I hold you soon. And I thank God for giving us these precious baby pictures of you in time for Daddy's birthday. What a special gift you are to us, Sammy.
At this point, we will keep waiting. Our social worker will call early tomorrow to tell us either way if she got any information through the night tonight, just like she did this morning. That will be the plan indefinitely until we finally hear how he is and what his condition is. Please pray for his care, physically and emotionally, and that he would have a full recovery from his surgery.
No comments:
Post a Comment