A few days ago I had a very honest and frank conversation with Olivia. She offered to help me fold Daniel's laundry. It became very obvious to me by her precise way she was folding that she had done this many times before. My window of opportunity was there. I asked Livi if she had to fold her clean laundry when she was in China. She responded with a YES. I asked her if she had to help the little children in her room fold their's too. She responded YES.....me help them.....they don't know how to do this. I then switched topics and asked her if she thought her best friend "L" had a family now too? She quickly said NO. I asked her if she thought any of her friends in her room in China might have gone to families. She reponded with a firm NO.....and the words that came from her mouth next stung my heart so fierce that I knew I would have to write a post about it. She said.....ONLY BABIES......ONLY BABIES GO....NO BIG CHILDREN....JUST BABIES. Can you imagine the thanks I was giving to God at that very moment in my mind.....thanking Him for letting me find her.....I fought back the tears that I could feel stinging my eyes......I can't imagine my life without her and yet my beautiful daughter was telling me that she knew families only wanted babies. Friends.......if you are considering adoption, whether it is your first time, or you are returning to adopt again......please consider the older children. Look at her picture....the wisdom in her eyes, the love in her heart.....she is beyond precious to me.....to all of us! The journey to an older child takes faith my friends.....but I truly believe if you know that God will be with you during the whole entire journey.......you will see that you will be blessed more than you ever thought possible!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
{ Only Babies }
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26 comments:
Precious Olivia. I am truly thankful for her.
love, Oma
Oh I can't even imagine the pain the older children feel when babies come and go quicker than a swinging door. Praise God for families like you Steffie that stepped out in faith!
Olivia is EVERYTHING that anyone could ever hope for in a child. And it breaks my heart that the children she lived with had lost hope of finding families after seeing baby after baby find one. I think that is changing. I hope that it is anyway.
Steffie,
this post just kills me because I can understand how heartbreaking this must have been to hear. We have had similar experiences with Samantha and it is so very sad but it fills my heart with joy to know how far our girls have come already. Olivia could not be any sweeter and more wonderful. We both are lucky mommies indeed.
hugs,
Jonni
XOXOXO
Poor Olivia! I can't imagine the pain and hurt these kids feel every single day knowing they may never have a family of their own. We brought home two older boys last May (4 and 14) and will be bringing home a 9 yr old girl in a few months. I can't imagine turning them away just because of their age. They are human and need love just like anyone else.
Mandi
Thank you for writing this-- the world needs to know how the 'big kids' feel in the orphanages. Two words describes it. "Left Behind."
Beautiful, Steffie!! The journey to an older child takes great faith but it is such an enormous blessing to both us, the parents, and the child.
We did consider an 'older' child when we were waiting (remember that LONG wait) but I knew that I was going to go for that just to speed up the wait... which was the wrong thing to do - to do it just because... but had always said that IF we did this again, it would be an older child... alas we aren't going to be adopting again... :( Then never say never... my heart DOES go out to the 'older' kids... hope they all find homes. I do love hearing about how it was for her where she was... thank you for sharing what you have...
We also adopted older, 3 teens after adopting a 3 year old, and now are being blessed to go back for a 7 year old, all special needs, their need? US. We needed them.
They are all a wonderful blessing that we enjoy so much, although we do encourage families to be educated and prepared for an older child because they do have a totally different road to blend into a family than a little one.
100% worth it- wouldn't trade them for a baby/babies at all.
Our new 12 year old told us something similar about all of the kids left behind at her orphanage, which is for older kids. Hoping this post breaks someone's heart enough to prayerfully consider adopting an older child-- that's what got us started on this road. In the end it was about us saying, "Yes, Lord, we trust you with this, even if it's hard." It hasn't always been easy, but it has DEFINITELY been worth it. God has equipped us for every single part of the journey, and we are blessed beyond measure by our new daughter.
Yes, we adopted a 13 yr old (Elissa's DD's best friend...we found DD before we found Elissa, actually!). I just recently heard her story about finding out that she had a family. How she couldn't believe it. How her friends gathered around her...how they were all excited...all crying...how she couldn't believe SHE had a family...how she slept with the picture book of her family for several nights after she got it...how she didn't sleep "one hour, one minute, one second" (her direct quote) the night before family day she was so excited. Has it been easy? No. Could have it been harder? Yes. We've only been home for 4 months, but God has been faithful. He doesn't promise easy, he only asks for willingness. We were willing. He's been faithful and met every need we've had to this point. He's been amazing. Our daughter is amazing.
I can 'second' you on that....please consider adopting an older child...please! We have been so blessed as well.
i am crying. omgosh LIV i love my babygirl. i wish i could just ask every person without an adopted child what is their reasoning for not helping all the children in need.. breaks my heart xoxo
If only...I'd go back for my very own Olivia...
Oh my goodness! I found your post through Lynne at Somewhere in the Sun. I have an advocacy site where I feature mostly older kiddos. I would love to be able to link to your post and pass it along! Just let me know. You can email me at 5puppies@comcast.net. My site is www.wonderfulwaitingkids.com
God Bless your beautiful daughter!
Can I repost this on www.wearegraftedin.com? I would need a bio and a picture of you to use with the bio. Let me know -- it's absolutely moving.
"you will be blessed more than you ever thought possible!" AMEN!!!
BLESSED mom to 7, 4 adopted from China, 3 of them were older child adoptions....and I mean BLESSED!!!
Kim
PS. I love your heart for children!
Wow, Steffie...this is such a powerful message!! Thanks to your sweet Olivia for the reminder....older children need families, too!!! My heart broke as you shared her words. Bless her sweet little heart!!!
Michelle
Thanks for sharing this Steffie!
Very important for everyone to read!
We adopted our little one when she was almost 5. She is everything we dreamed of, and more!
Never a single regret!
Blessings,
Alycia
tell OLivia I adopted four kids all from Guangxi province and none of them were babies! 2.5, 3.9, 3.3 and age 7 , 3 years ago.
We were going back for an eight year old girl but we had to delay due to my older daughter having some issues. She ended up being placed with another family that we found for her and is happily with them now in Michigan, WE are in Utah. My husband left us a year and half ago, (bipolar) went off his meds, quit his job and took off. So we are divorced now almost a year. So I am raising the remaining four (now 14, 12, 11,10) of my nine w/o a dad. I feel badly that they have lost their bio parents, orphanage friends, Chinese foster family and now their adoptive dad. they have me though! what a blessing and what they have taught me about being Christlike! I have developed unconditional love because of them!
the last time their dad bothered to see them was last october (He has unlimited supervised visitation)
Anyway I'd love another girl, and while singles can adopt now, I have more than two at home!
Tell Olivia THERE ARE MANY families that want older kids! Where is she from?
Adriana@Cassani.net
www.cassanichronicles.blogspot.com
Steffie,
This is the best post you have ever written. Livi was meant to tell you that story and you are meant to share it with others. I would like to link to it too this week. We have prayed about going back to China and my heart breaks hearing this. I would adopt an older child in a heart beat if we returned. Sweet Livi:) I sure hope her bestie L has a forever family soon too.
Beautiful post Steffie! I had tears while reading this!
I read this post with tears..and it so tugs at my heart.
I adopted a six-and-a-half year old little girl...who still had a lot of "baby" in her. She is absolutely perfect--a blessing and a joy. I can't imagine my life without her.
Wow! My heart breaks for those Older children. :( They must all be told that too.. "that only babies find families"... so sad!
Thank you for sharing! Maybe this touched the very heart of someone adopting.... you never know what kind of impact this statement may have had on them.
I can't get this post off my mind. Would you be willing to let us feature it on "We Are Grafted In" (www.wearegraftedin.com)? It is a Christian adoption website/forum and by featuring it we could get the word out to many families.
Feel free to contact me with questions. (smurphy 28 @ juno. com) If you are willing to let us repost it I would just need a brief bio and a picture to use when it is featured.
Stephanie
co-administrator of We Are Grafted In
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