Luoyang - Maria's Big House of Hope

This was how we started our day - me and the babes sleeping on a towel on the floor.  One must get creative in the middle of the night when the twin beds are full. ;-)  I dreamed that I went home and got my kiddos and brought them back here - I miss them terribly!

The gifts we took to Maria's Big House of Hope, along with 

some candy and lollipops for the kids.

It was our day to head to Maria's Big House of Hope, where Reed had his cleft surgery just over a year ago.  It was a 2.5 hour ride each way, and I have to admit, after our full week so far, I was second guessing our decesion to go.

Trying to help them along in their thinking.  :-)

On the drive Travis shared about a quiet time based on Romans 3 he and the boys had, and the related discussion in regards to our sanctification.  He shared with them the significance of Tuesday - when Reed and Grace officially became ours.  That there was no turning back and that they'd be Polks forever, no matter what happened.  It wasn't dependent on whether they liked us or not (although we are confident that they will), they are now Polks.  We love them, and our hope would be that one day they would love us, and desire to obey us because of that love.  Our sanctification is much the same way;  God wants us to obey him out of our love for him.  "We love because He first loved us."

Once we arrived at Maria's Big House of Hope, we were able to put more pieces to the puzzle with Reed, and as Travis said, it was so comforting and reassuring.  We had been under the impression that Reed had traveled there for his surgery and then returned to the orphanage, staying maybe a month.  I knew I would receive pictures once we were home with him, but wasn't expecting much since he was there such a short time.

We quickly learned that he had NOT been there one month, but ELEVEN!  Glory Be!!!  He arrived when he was 15 days old, a few days after he was found.  He stayed for 11 months, and then was transferred to another Show Hope care facility located in his Zhengzhou orphanage.  At the time he entered the orphanage he was 18 pounds - just about the weight he is now - and that is also the same time the pictures were taken that we have of him in our home.  We realized that he was well taken care of initially and gaining weight well, but stopped gaining weight once sent to the orphanage.  We also feel like he is stalled developmentally at about 1 year of age, which all makes more sense now. We think the poor little guy has just been starving the past 10 months.  Heartbreaking.  We are encouraged that with plenty of healthy food and love, we feel confident that he is going to thrive.

The second big surprise was that we were able to meet his nanny, Abby, and thank her for taking such good care of him.  The nannies are responsible for 3 children at a time (an amazing ratio) and after a child has surgery, they sit in a chair next to his bed around the clock until the child is moved from recovery back to his regular room.  Thankfully we happened to have an extra gift with us, so were able to leave it for her.

We were also able to see his bed and were happy he got to be by a window.  :-)

He had a precious quilt that a woman in Australia had made for all of the beds to match - shes made them for all 144 beds, 1 room at a time!

I had been so shocked by all the information we received that I really wasn't thinking clearly enough to ask many specific questions.  However, I am choked by God's loving kindness in how He cared for our son and his graciousness in allowing us to find out.  I'm peaceful that we have just the information we need, and as we drove home I kept singing an old song we used to sing often - "I stand, I stand in Awe of you.  I stand, I stand in Awe of you.  Holy God, to whom, all praise is due, I stand in Awe of you."