Physical: Our house is abuzz with preparations for Daniel. We are converting the nursery into a big boy room; cleaning out dressers and closets; replacing the teddy bears with balls, transformers and Lego’s. We will soon begin shopping for clothes. Typically children adopted from China come with the clothes on their backs and nothing more. Where does one start? Undies, what kind? Socks, pajama’s, t-shirts, shorts, shoes, etc. We need it all! Based on the most recent update on Daniel he should be wearing size 7 clothes and size 2 or 3 shoes. We welcome any hand me downs you have sitting around gathering dust!
Emotional: It is difficult to know how to prepare emotionally. We talk about Daniel, think about what time it is in China “now’, try to make him a real part of our every day lives. It’s very difficult. We don’t know Daniel. What does he like? Does he laugh easily? Does he have dimples when he smiles? Is his hair coarse or fine? Is he talkative or quiet? Does he love music? Drawing? Sports? Mostly we have questions, not answers. One afternoon in January Cosette painted the three pictures in this post. The first is a self-portrait, next is me (mom) and the third is a picture of Daniel. Amazing isn’t it? Daniel is a featureless boy. The contrast between the paintings speaks volumes.
Spiritual: We pray daily for Daniel. Actually, it would be more accurate to say we pray all day for him. Any time God puts him in my mind I lift up a prayer. Our hearts cry is that God would prepare Daniel’s heart for us, and ours for him. One thing to consider is that while we are spending all this time and energy preparing for Daniel, he may not have much or any preparation himself. There is a chance that he will learn about us only a few days before we meet. Many times children adopted internationally at Daniels age have the feeling that they have been kidnapped. They are mistrusting and fearful. Somehow we pray that this precious boy would know we are coming, that we love him, want him and will be his forever family.
Preparing is a process.
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