One Week Till Takeoff!

Just one week from this moment, we will be flying somewhere over the Arctic Ocean on our way to Beijing.  All documents are in order, necessary arrangements have been made for the house and pets, packing is well under way, and the quilt I am making for Little Weed #4 looks like it will be complete before departure.  I've learned a little Mandarin (not enough, but hey - it's a tough language to learn!), read all the books on attachment, parenting a traumatized and grieving child, cultural loss, and language loss and aquisition. I've even set up a school curriculum developed by experts in international adoption focusing on family attachment, language skills, and filling in missed building blocks in early neurological development to support future learning potential.   I have had a year (more, if you count the year that we spent deciding if we were going to follow this calling or not) to prepare for this addition to our family.  I prayed and agonized and talked and debated and then made a choice to make this child my son. 

I think of all I have done to prepare my home, heart, and mind.  And then I think of Little Weed #4.  We think he received a letter and photos from us a month or two ago.  We think it is likely these items would have been given to him.  We hope someone is preparing him for what is to come.  But he has absolutely no choice in this matter.  He will lose every person he cares about.  He will likely lose much of his first language.  He will lose his culture, his friends, his routine.  Everything.  Yes, he gains a family and love and a future, but how is a six year old supposed to process that?  Adoption is a beautiful solution to a tragic situation, but is surrounded by loss of such magnitude that I am unable to fully comprehend it.  And none of it is his choice or in his control.

So, before I even meet my little boy, I am proud of him.  I am proud of the courage he must have had to survive his previous life circumstances.  I am proud of the courage he will need to display to endure the enormous change in his life that is a little over a week away.  And I hope I can meet that level of courage as we walk through the inevitable challenges of the coming days together.

Together.  What a wonderful word.  One more week till we take off to get this thing started together.