He is Wonderful!

What a whirlwind we have been riding the last few days! We were able to meet our little guy on Wednesday and we ended up spending all afternoon and into the early evening with him! His foster mom is great...what a blessing she is in these kids' lives. She is doing some really hard work with children who have had traumatic pasts.
Israel is just wonderful and really ready to have a Mommy and a Daddy who is committed to him. He has big brown puppy dog eyes and curly eye lashes. He has a smile that lights up his face and the room! We were able to visit with the "family" and then we all went to lunch together. He sat with Roger and myself and his foster mom and her little girl (who is also a child with trauma in her past.) He still had no idea that we were really there to see him. Eventually we took him to Chuckie Cheese alone to play games. He had a ball and so did we! We gave him a little birthday present...a model that he and Roger put together...and a build a bear frog in soccer clothes. He was quite happy.
Then, we went to the park to meet up with the "family" again. When it was time to go, we promised we would be back the next day. (There was an issue with the model that I bought...it was missing a piece and Roger had to superglue it...God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? I mean, it was easily fixed, but we got to visit again! Israel is learning to TRUST people so when we said we would bring it fixed the next day, he could start learning to trust us.) We got to talk a little more to him and he told us that he wished we could be his MOMMY and DADDY! Oh how hard it was not to just break down and cry at that. Foster Mommy had some tears rolling down her face, too! How sweet it was!
She told him that we wanted to adopt a little child so maybe we could work something out! We have to be a little "guarded" at this point for him until all the papers are signed and we have a date to receive custody of him. We don't want to hurt him any more than he has already been hurt.
When we got ready to leave, he told us that he was happy and sad...two emotions that he is learning to recognize. He was happy to be with us but sad to have us have to leave. We promised to come back very soon and when we left, his foster Mommy was holding him and he was crying.

So was I...but it was all good. We are pretty much in love with this little boy!

Now it is up to the two states we each live in to get it together so that we can have our boy. Although he is originally from the Congo, he is now a United States citizen. The Lord is good. I am so ashamed that I was so impatient and upset that I felt He wasn't helping us with our adoption. But all along, He was doing some wonderful, secret work that only He could do for us and for Israel. What a blessing our Lord is in our lives...and we have the incredible privilege to share Him with Israel!

Blessings,
Beth