Tomorrow my Jonah Matthew Jin Zheng Mallory turns 8. I'll admit, I am a little weepy tonight. He's so grown up. WHEN did this happen? He is such an unlikely miracle in our life . One I couldn't bear to be without! When we were looking at files, I saw many little girls that would be a perfect little sister for Mia. After all she was the only girl and one more would just make it complete. It's a long story but somehow, none of those girls felt "right". I kept looking at his picture and wondered when that cute little "Jasper"(that was his file name) was going to find his family! After all, he was almost too old now to be likely adopted...I read his file and cried when I saw his braces on his legs and read that he had been in the hospital for 30 days after surgery to repair his clubbed feet. The hospital report said they gave him advil for pain. ADVIL??? Oh how much pain he must have had to endure..all without a momma and baba to hold him and tell him it would be okay. He was , after all only 2 at the time. This was in November (the 8th to be exact). Jarrod and I still didn't feel any of the girls on the list were right for us...the feeling just wasn't there. Odd for me...let me tell you! Then one night Jarrod and I were talking about him...wondering why someone hadn't scooped him up! After all he would be such a great addition to ANY family. We had been in China getting Mia and had met a boy close to his age being adopted by a family in our group. Oh how kind and gentle he was with our little Mia. You could see the nurturing, protective feelings he had toward other children he fostered while in the orphanage. His name was Daniel. HE planted a seed of love in our hearts for these "older boys" that everyone was so afraid to adopt. We think it must have been all meant to be. I believe there are NO accidents because on Christmas morning, Jarrod gave us all an envelope. Each envelope had a letter in it. When we placed all the collective letters on the floor it spelled "JASPER"....That was it! I started to cry, Jarrod teared up and we were on our way to CHINA AGAIN to bring home our son! He was almost 6. Crazy!!!! What the heck were we doing? We had never planned this but let me tell you. There is no way to explain how the SPIRIT lead our hearts to him. Now fastforward two years later. He is by far one of the GREATEST blessings in my life. He is myright hand man every day! He never tires of helping me or Dad with anything. He loves to clean, cook, and make me happy! Yes, the first 6 months were filled with LOTS of adjustments . Looking back I can see just how brave he was...he spoke not a lick of english when we got him yet the very first day he was playing jokes on his brothers in the hotel room. He had to endure new smells, new food, funny tal blonde people telling him what to do...and the list goes on! He was quite spoiled at the orphanage so he had to learn to accept "no" for an answer. That wasn't easy for anyone! lol!
But here he is. My first grader, my big boy...all ready to be baptized on Saturday. I look at the pictures of our early days with him and see such a different Jonah. He is now definitely out of his shell and IN CHARGE!! I am proud of him and so so humbled we get to be his family! Love you honey!!! I'd walk the Earth for any of my kids....and I truly believe you were MINE from the beginning of time!!!!
Here are some pictures from his referral picture, pictures of him in his orphanage while waiting for us to get there ( took 7 months). The picture of him on his bed was at 6 months home.Then there's his first Chritmas home... So many firsts that seem so long ago ...mostly because I can't imagine our family without him!! Enjoy. I will be sure to post pictures of him from tomorrow and his Baptizm on Saturday!! So see ya soon.
