I was reading an entry tonight on a blog written by a woman who brought two sons home from Ethiopia six months ago. She wanted to share an update on how they were doing while reflecting on how the boys responded to her and husband when they first met. She included a photo of her 7 year old son who was so resistant to trusting her in the beginning and has been slower to respond than her other child.
Her interpretation of the look in his eyes when they met was, "Look lady, I'm not really sure who you are or why you are here. I think I might be going on a plane with you. They tell me I am lucky. What I am is hungry, lonely, sad, broken, abused, neglected, picked over and above all tired. I am tired of looking for my next meal, I am tired of looking for a place to sleep. I am tired of trying to sleep with one eye open to protect myself. I am tired of having to be a man when I am only 7. I am tired and scared. I'm too scared to trust you, I am too tired not to hope that this will be everything they told me-that I will leave with you, I will be fed, I will be safe....I got nothing left, its you or I'm done. So please, let this be real."
A lot of blogs, and their entries, have touched me and made me reflect on how Joseph may respond to us and the fact that we're taking him away from what he knows as home, but this one not only broke my heart, it also terrified me.
Every night I pray for Joseph's safety and well-being, but my prayers seem somewhat less than what's needed and superficial. This woman's blog brought me down to my knees in an instant.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
A gut-wrenching entry on another blog
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Thanks for the blog post. We had a family in our church share with us the difficulty when they brought their 14 year old from China. For the first 3 days home she didn't come out of her room. My wife and I were literally the first visitors she had, and gave her a reason to shower and meet the visitors. They shared their struggles with us. Then they said, "this will happen in your little one's life when you get him, too. Sure, he may be too young to decide to cry in his room and refuse to get out of bed. He may not be strong enough to disobey you and refuse to eat, to join the rest of the family. He may be too shell shocked to even know what happens. He won't be able to tell you he's mourning the loss. But rest assured. Whether he's a infant from Ethiopia or a teenager from China, they will mourn." Although it was tough to hear, it helped me greatly in the transition when we got him home. It helped me to have compassion. It helped me to give him extra love. Sometimes we need to hear those things that absolutely gut us inside. I know I did. Thanks for the post. Pretty powerful stuff!
Post a Comment