A year ago today, Sheila, Jessica and I embarked on the trip
of a lifetime. Not only was it the first time I’d ever been to a foreign
country, but it brought our sweet Nam into our family. I remember feeling
terrified: to be flying so far, to be spending 2-3 weeks in an Asian
(communist) country, and to be helping care for a scared little orphan boy. As
is true most of the time, most of my fears were unfounded. I did fine flying
(although spending that much time on a plane is NOT pleasant). We didn’t have
any REAL trouble in Vietnam (just a few glitches here and there that were able
to be dealt with). And Nam was NOT the scared little orphan boy that I
expected. Sure he was nervous at times, but that kid was SO brave and
adventuresome, and hungry for love and family! We had some pretty rough moments
(or hours), but all in all that kid was amazing in his resiliency.
Here we are a year later. Nam is fully integrated into our
family. He speaks fluent English and has an impressive vocabulary (for any
almost 5-year-old). He is happy and well-adjusted (for the most part). He can
be sweet and affectionate (or not). He’s really just a pretty typical little
boy! He has a love for life that is infectious. His favorite animals are the
big African and Asian cats, crocodiles, rhinos, etc. (the common theme being
that they are dangerous). Right now his occupations of choice (for when he
grows up) are fireman, policeman, ambulance driver, “taking care of dangerous
animals”, garbage man or ice cream truck driver. Ha! He wants to travel
extensively when he grows up: to Asia, Africa, South America, and “where he can
see polar bears, brown bears and black bears”. He also wants to own a farm that
raises all sorts of unusual critters: all types of deer, skunks, geese,
flamingos, for starters. (Of course the skunks would have to be de-scented
first.)
It has been fun to watch the changes as Nam has learned
about family and security and compassion and kindness and love. Seeing him
learn about God and being a part of a church family has really been
heart-warming. He is smart and has picked up so much already. He knows a LOT of
Bible stories and can name some characters that would surprise you. He knows
the words to a lot of songs…his favorite being “Oh Thou Fount of Every
Blessing.” At our recent meeting, Ken got up Saturday morning and said
something about God being holy. I could hear a sweet little husky voice in the
back of the building start singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy”! When I was talking to
Sheila about it later, she said she tried to shush him, and he countered with
“but I was singing!” I got a kick out it myself! He has now been through a
meeting with over 100 people in attendance and did just fine. Another hurdle
overcome!
I love being able to have a grandkid around whenever I want.
I still miss Jesse, Shepherd and Gracie and would love to spend more time with
them. But having Nam close by really helps. I especially love it when we all
get together and I can see all of the littles playing together! I am REALLY
looking forward to Thanksgiving. Since Nam’s birthday is that same week, we
will also have his party while the cousins are in town. He is very excited
about his birthday. He’s been talking about it all year. Now that it is
November, he can hardly wait! He is really looking forward to being five!
He had his second sleepover with us Friday night (without
Mom). He did great, again. He did miss Sheila and told her later that next time
he wants her to come, too. But we had fun! We cooked hamburgers and rode bikes
at the state park. After supper, we watched a movie (Mulan) and ate popcorn.
Dennis got up early Saturday morning and went hunting. Nam “slept in” until
6:15 (Granny was hoping for a little later get-up time), then we had our
favorite bacon and pancakes for breakfast. About the time we were needing to
leave to meet up with Sheila, we got a call from Grandad saying he had killed a
deer. So we met up with him at the rest stop on 180, so Nam could see the deer.
On the way, he was telling me how he really didn’t want to hunt deer, because
he didn’t want to kill an animal. I told him that was fine. Then after seeing
Grandad’s buck, he started saying he wanted to go hunting when he was 5! Ha! He
was pretty excited. Funny incident: Dennis had shot the deer a little further
back than he normally does. It was still in the lungs, but it also nicked the
gut…which he DOESN’T like to do. He has looked at so many pictures of deer with
Nam (and he always points out where is the best place to hit the deer), that
when Nam saw the bullet hole, he said, “Grandad, you hit it too far back!” This
kid doesn’t miss a thing!
So for my Day 6 of Thanksgiving: I am thankful for the
miracle of adoption! I have two beautiful grandsons that I wouldn’t have
without it, and they have a loving family and more blessings than we can enumerate
because of it. It also has provided me (and our family) a richness of
understanding that I’m not sure we could have achieved otherwise. Plus it adds
a little insight into our relationship with our Heavenly Father who chose to
adopt us as his children.
No comments:
Post a Comment