We began this journey within the journey by saying thank you, and we end that way. If you have found joy in Ray coming home, place that joy directly in your heart and realize...he would not be home without your help. We know this to be true...
...Some have helped through prayer.
...Someone was literally Dang Fu He's voice.
...Some have helped financially.
...Some have given us food for the coming weeks.
...One of you traveled step for step with Demian (THANK YOU DAD!)
...Some have helped through babysitting, while we ran around chasing adoption paperwork.
...Some have helped with that paperwork.
...Some helped with translating Chinese along the way.
...Some took care of Ray for the first three years of his life.
...Demian's team mates at Vision have helped by shouldering an increased workload during the trip.
...Some have helped through words of encouragement.
...Some have helped when we didn't even know it.
The common thread is that you have supported the cause of adoption. You are a noble people. And how fitting that we have three families from our Waiting China Families ListServe who are celebrating Gotcha Day - yes - AT THIS VERY MOMENT on the other side of the world. God Bless the Allen's, the Patzer's, and the Rumbaugh's (as well as all those "in process").
It seems almost our duty to now share that November is Adoption Awareness month; yes, even in these last days it still is! Here we will borrow the words of our WCF friend Holly Mac who, along with her husband Tony, brought home their son Josiah in late August:
"As we come to November once again it is Adoption Awareness month and I am even more aware of the millions of orphans around the world who hunger for the love of a forever family. It is so easy to pretend that they don't really exist or that the need isn't really so great, but when you have been where they live, when you look into their eyes, when you see the cribs lined up row after row with not enough arms to hold the babies within... when you see the older children who have aged past toddlerhood and still long for a mother's touch, a father's embrace... you can't pretend that they don't really exist. Perhaps every family can't adopt an orphan, but together, we can all do SOMETHING. We can sponsor an orphan, we can raise awareness, we can send care pacakges, we can PRAY for the comfort of the fatherless and pray that the Lord will call forth their families. We can help families trying to adopt who struggle with the legal fees and we can smile when we see multi-racial families out and about instead of frowning and thank God for the beautiful people groups that He has created!"
Just something.
As noted above, you have extended your charity to our family and we are better for it! We would just ask that none of us forget the other families and children, those who we don't even know. Maybe your church or synagogue has an adoption ministry; maybe your local government agency has information on foster care; maybe the agencies that supported us, All God's Children International (http://www.allgodschildren.org/) and The Datz Foundation (http://www.datzfoundation.org/), are of interest to you or others.
Maybe you could just pray. That's how Ray came to us.
The amazement of this adoption can cause one to conclude that Ray has been blessed by simply being in our family now. In the context of God's Will, it may be true. And, candidly, seeing Ray in our home - with his family - is joyful beyond description. Yet as our friend Angel Bellante has pointed out to us several times - and Jim and her speak from experience with Mario - we are the lucky ones for having Ray bless our family. In one of the first emails she ever wrote to us she said, "He is special and you need him."
We do need him. Forever.
Thank you for journeying with us; and to think it really is just beginning. May peace be within all your hearts.
Xie Xie,
Rosalie and Demian
Julia, Benjamin, Raymond, and Elizabeth
