Saying Goodbye
On Saturday morning, we woke up and got to spend more time snuggling with the Havenkins. He ate a couple of ounces for us that morning, which was very encouraging to us. Then we were whisked away to a resort for the day. It felt weird being at a resort while trying to process the poverty around me. But, I must admit it was a very nice break from reality after an emotional few days. They had this large buffet with traditional Ethiopian food and some good ole American comfort food like pasta and cheeseburgers. The entire buffet was $12. It was really wonderful!
We got back to the guest house early that afternoon and we got to spend a good chunk of time with our son. And more of that Sunday. Sunday, we had no plans. We did get out for a couple of hours, but spent most of the day snuggling Haven. The best gift God gave us was that Haven ate 4 ounces from Chris that afternoon. That was so very encouraging to us as we knew we were about to leave him. When the time came, we prayed over Haven and then I looked at Chris and said, “You’re going to have to take him away from me. I can’t let him go.” Chris took him out of my arms and my tears started flowing. I planned to follow Chris to Haven’s bed and give him one last kiss. However, the nanny came out of the room and took Haven from Chris. It was probably best this way, because the good Lord knows I would have not been able to leave his bedside. The nanny probably would have been kicking us out of the door. I tried to control my emotions, but then Chris lost it and walked behind the building to pull it together. We knew that it would be incredibly hard to leave our son once we met him and held him and got to know him (though we had already fallen in love with him from a picture). But, knowing that he needs medical care made it almost impossible. I kept asking God for strength and to please grant Haven good health in our absence. And then we got on a plane to come home. Home without Haven. But there was so much joy in knowing that we would be reunited with Storykins and in knowing that we get to go back and get him soon.
Chris put it into words so beautifully after a few days of processing. We just finished a study on the book of Revelation at our church. For us, adoption has always been a beautiful picture of the gospel. This program especially is…knowing that we came, we chose him, we adopted him, he is ours. Then, we had to leave him, come home, and prepare a place for him. And we promised him that we would come back for him. That’s exactly what Jesus did for us. Especially this time of year, as we focus on the birth of Jesus, our family is even more looking forward to his return.
We will keep you all in the loop as we find out more information. Right now, we are praying that Haven will be able to get home as soon as possible. Actually, I am praying specifically that he will be home by the end of the year. Will you join me?