Some of you might have had a time in your life similar to what Mir and I experienced on Tuesday, December 15th at 11PM. The best way I can describe it is the collision of one of the happiest moments of your life with one of the worst.
After sitting all afternoon in a dirty Lao hospital, the doctors finally decided to do a Cesarian section on the birthmother at 9:30 in the evening. The C-section was preformed at around 10:30, and at eleven, our precious baby boy was brought through the swinging doors. Our joy turned to fear as we heard the nurses say there was a “little problem” and explain it to the grandmother in another room. After ten minutes of waiting we found out what the “little problem” was. Our new son was missing his right arm past the elbow.
Our hearts dropped through the floor when we heard the news. We were shocked, scared, and even had thoughts of running away. In that second we saw all of the pain, rejection, and hardship this little boy is going to face and knew that his pain would also fall on those who loved him. At the same time, however, the Father’s grace flooded our hearts and saw a vision of our little boy, facing all of the problems he will face but without the truth of knowing that he was fearfully and wonderfully made and not a mistake. That he is valuable to our Father and has worth beyond this life. Or worse, we saw a precious little boy abandoned in the hospital and left to die. This boy’s life is going to happen whether or not we are a part of it. How could we give up the opportunity to be this beautiful boy’s parents? I don’t want you to think that we are amazing people who never had a doubt about what to do. Somehow I feel that most “righteous” people are like us, sinners given special grace for that moment to make the right choice.
Don’t be afraid to grieve with us over Jonathan Phonesavanh Cole. As much as we are rejoicing over his life, we are mourning the troubles he will face because of his disability. But the longer we hold him and love on him, the more we see his possibilities instead of his disadvantages. I’ll leave you with a verse that the Father gave to me right before we heard about this adoption. “You are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the L...He will be filled with the H.S. even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the L their G.”
After sitting all afternoon in a dirty Lao hospital, the doctors finally decided to do a Cesarian section on the birthmother at 9:30 in the evening. The C-section was preformed at around 10:30, and at eleven, our precious baby boy was brought through the swinging doors. Our joy turned to fear as we heard the nurses say there was a “little problem” and explain it to the grandmother in another room. After ten minutes of waiting we found out what the “little problem” was. Our new son was missing his right arm past the elbow.
Our hearts dropped through the floor when we heard the news. We were shocked, scared, and even had thoughts of running away. In that second we saw all of the pain, rejection, and hardship this little boy is going to face and knew that his pain would also fall on those who loved him. At the same time, however, the Father’s grace flooded our hearts and saw a vision of our little boy, facing all of the problems he will face but without the truth of knowing that he was fearfully and wonderfully made and not a mistake. That he is valuable to our Father and has worth beyond this life. Or worse, we saw a precious little boy abandoned in the hospital and left to die. This boy’s life is going to happen whether or not we are a part of it. How could we give up the opportunity to be this beautiful boy’s parents? I don’t want you to think that we are amazing people who never had a doubt about what to do. Somehow I feel that most “righteous” people are like us, sinners given special grace for that moment to make the right choice.
Don’t be afraid to grieve with us over Jonathan Phonesavanh Cole. As much as we are rejoicing over his life, we are mourning the troubles he will face because of his disability. But the longer we hold him and love on him, the more we see his possibilities instead of his disadvantages. I’ll leave you with a verse that the Father gave to me right before we heard about this adoption. “You are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the L...He will be filled with the H.S. even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the L their G.”
Jonny and his new daddy.
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