All Things Colbry

All Things Colbry
All the Colbry's

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Still Surprised









I am better at taking pictures than writing, for one thing they are a quicker way to document the event's and special people in our lives.  I look at the pictures and don't need any words, I can remember the feeling of being in the presence of the family or friends, or the excitement of the place or event.  It takes me back, and I smile. 
I have tried to keep up with our blog, it has been hard knowing what should be shared about our children's lives.  So generally we only choose the good, the happy, the funny.  Most of it is exactly that, with some drama here and there to keep us humble:)  We do have to admit surprise however.  We were ready for a huge challenge when we decided to adopt a teenage boy from China.  We brought him home18 months ago.  We were ready for grief.  We were ready for anger.  We were ready for attachment disorder.  We were ready for fear.  We were ready for sibling rivalry.  We were ready for chaos and confusion and challenges beyond our parenting skills.  We are still surprised when we think about it, because this young man has made a huge life changing event at such a young age look pretty darn easy.  He has a wisdom balanced with a sense of whimsical humor that draw's everyone in who meets him, you instantly like this kid!  We know it is not always this way when you adopt an older child, that is why we almost didn't take the risk.  We have had some heart wrenching talks about growing up in an orphanage and multiple foster homes that were not all picture perfect.  It  is no surprise it takes a lot more time to do homework with him, to explain things and listen.  But the important things, like kindness, grace, honesty, perseverance, integrity and self esteem are all there, he went through so much, and came out of it with all that.  We write this just in case someone unknown to us is reading and wondering what it might look like to take on an adventure like older child adoption.  It is one of the good stories.  It is the one we hoped and prayed for.   We knew the risks and did it anyway, we are still surprised.

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