One Year Ago Today

Normally when go on any type of vacation, I am never ready to come home.  Tom will usually be ready for "our own bed" or ready to "get back to the routine," etc.  But not me - I always want to stay longer. However, I have never been so glad or ready to get my feet back on American soil as I was on September 12, 2009.  Not just my feet, but Tom's and especially Ian's!!  We had just spent 3 weeks in a small hotel room in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, wondering if we were going to get to bring him home or be forced to take him back to Robin's Nest until we could get the proper paperwork for his visa.  This was a good lesson in depending on God, since there was nothing else we could do.  We read many Psalms and prayed a LOT.  Tom worried about his job but kept in touch with some wonderful folks there who had most of the company praying for us.  Our fabulous new neighbors (we'd only lived here for a few weeks) took care of our yard and everything on the home front. 

It seems that perspective is so much clearer looking back and it didn't take us long to realize at least one of God's purposes for keeping us in Kingston.  No matter how hard we would have tried, we would not have had 3 uninterrupted weeks alone with Ian if we'd been able to bring him home immediately.  Although Tom and I were anguishing over the thought of having to leave him there, we did a pretty good job of hiding it from him (most of the time) and those were 21 precious days that we had to learn about him and for him to learn about us.  We were pretty nervous at first, not knowing what he liked/didn't like, how to take care of him, how to communicate with him, etc.  However, Ian is a patient and loving teacher and he taught us all we needed to know.  We are convinced that the longer-than-expected time in Jamaica was what made the transition from one home, family, country, culture such an easy one for him.

So, an entire year has passed and we love our little, nappy-headed fellow (as Tom calls him) more than we thought possible.  It has made us so much more aware of our adoption in Christ and how grateful we are to be chosen by God.  Ian is a joy!  He is happy almost always! He wakes up happy and he goes to bed happy.  He makes us laugh all the time and we never cease to wonder at the special spirit God has given him.  We look forward to what God has in store for him and for us in the years to come!  To Him be the Glory, great things He has done!

 Miss Vivian had a very hard time telling Ian goodby.  This was right before we took him from Robin's Nest and I felt so sorry for her that I was wondering if we were doing the right thing.

 We did get a little pool time, when we weren't afraid that we'd miss a phone call.

 The handsome guy ready for the visa interview.

 On the plane, headed to his new home.

We had been told that his name was spelled with an "O" but when we got the birth certificate, we discovered it was actually with an "A".

Please don't misunderstand - we LOVE Jamaica and we want Ian to remember and love it as well.  We hope to take him back sometime in the not too distant future to visit all the wonderful people who took such great care of him.