Long Yake
12 years old
Living in LongGang, China
The Story of YaKe
Psalm 68:6
New International
Version (NIV)
6 God sets the
lonely in families.
“Are you going to adopt again?” That is the most asked question. Right behind the statement, “how do you
manage 10 children?” “ I can barely take
care of my 2.” Followed by, “you look
really good for having 10 kids!” Our
answer to the first question used to be that this was our last adoption until
the next one happened….and the next…..and then the next. Now our answer has changed to we don’t really
know. It is in God’s hands because that
is what our life really boils down to.
Right? We tried to make it our
decision but in the end after having many conversations with God, we give up
our selfish desires and long for His will and direction for this is where we
have found a tremendous peace and happiness.
Has it been hard? You bet it has
at times. What we really thought we
wanted in this life was a huge house in the neighborhood across the street, brand
new cars every few years and many tropical vacations. What we ended up receiving were 10 of the
most precious blessings this life can possibly offer. Which one would we have done without to have
a few more worldly treasures. We cannot imagine having missed out on any
of them. That is why when we hear God’s
voice to adopt it doesn’t take too much to convince us because we could have
said “no” to them and well, I cannot even let my mind go to the place that they
would still be in China without a family to love them. Thank you God that you kept after us. That is where number 11 comes into the
picture. His name is pronounced,
YawKu. Was he just a random child that
we just up and decided to adopt.
Nope. His little presence has
been with us for a few years now. The
very first mention of him was in China while we were adopting Sam in Dec.
2010. We were visiting the orphanage and
talking with the director and showing her photos of our family. She saw MeiLi and told us that there was a
little boy living there that looked like her.
I’m sure I thought more about that statement than Scott did but not much
more. After returning home I was looking
through orphanage photos that someone had given me looking for more photos of
Sam and Katy because that is also the trip that we met sweet Katy. That will have to be another story since this
one is mostly about YaKe. While looking
at photos I saw several of YaKe. I was a
little interested in him just because he really did look like MeiLi but he
really, really reminded me of DonLi. I
can’t remember exactly but I’m sure I showed Scott. He probably said, wow, he does look like
DonLi. We both had no idea of the seeds
of love being planted in our hearts for this child. The time wasn’t right for us to adopt him
because we had 2 others to get home first.
We later went on to adopt Katy and while waiting to travel to get her we
received a photo of her with some of the kids that she lived with. Standing in the background was YaKe looking
on what was happening in the picture. He
grabbed my attention quite a bit more this time and really grabbed
Scott’s. Scott was so intrigued that he
asked for me to find out more about him, and he even asked if it would be
possible for us to bring him home with Katy.
I do most of the paperwork obviously because it takes months to process
each individual adoption. However, Scott
with his never take no for an answer insisted there must be a way. He finally realized it was true. So off we went to China for the 5th
time to bring spunky Katy home. However
while there we again visited the orphanage.
We specifically asked for them to bring YaKe to meet us. We didn’t know if we were supposed to adopt
but we didn’t want to be this close to what we thought could be our son and not
see him and give him a gift. We met him
and spent a little time asking him questions about himself and took a few
photos. Katy had only been with us a few
days and she was a bit overwhelming. To
get an idea about her, we called her “jungle girl.” She had medical needs that we weren’t real
sure how they would turn out and as I sat in that room with Yake God revealed
his many needs to me. I just knew what
it would take to adopt him and frankly I had no energy left for that. Leah was with us as we sat there with
him. We never told her what we were
thinking so she had no idea why we asked to see him and she never really
asked. We left there that day
overwhelmed. We really didn’t speak
about him again until we got home. When
Scott asked what I thought about him all I could say was, “Whew”. He completely understood. Nothing else needed to be said. We spent the text 4 months deep in medical
evaluations for Katy and then God dropped a complete surprise on us in the form
of a 5 year old sweet heart, Jasmine.
Really? How does this
happen. I think she was just that extra
blessing that God gave us to say “your doing good, keep it up.” Fast forward another year. Jazzy and Katy are settled in. We are all settled in. That means we are at a good place where
things feel good. God starts filling my
mind and heart with YaKe. He is there
when I fall asleep and there when I wake up.
Scott was very busy and stressed at work so I told God that Scott would
flip out if I told him what I thought God was asking of us. I couldn’t keep it in any longer so one night
told Scott that God was wanting us to adopt him. Scott is special. Real special.
He said that he would start praying.
A week or so later he asked me when we were going to go bring that boy
home. Seriously! I think I mentioned he was special. Now I need to back up a little. During the time that YaKe was constantly on
my mind and God was speaking to my heart, Leah brings him up out of the blue
one day. She just asked about him and wondered
if he had been adopted. Hmmm. I wondered what that was about. A few days later after picking her up from
band she told me that Scott had mentioned to her that we were praying about
adopting Yake. She then broke into
tears. She said that she had been
praying for a long time that we would adopt him. She wanted to mention it to us but didn’t
know if she should. Now what 14 year old
girl prays about bringing home a 12 year old brother with obvious facial
deformities. Now I can say that Leah is
much like her dad. Very, very special. We both sat there crying. We were now sitting in the driveway and Scott
comes and looks at us and has absolutely no clue about what his girls are
sitting in the driveway crying about. He
looks concerned. I later tell him. It was my confirmation to move forward to
bring this boy home where he belongs.
The excitement of the kids about the whole thing was amazing. Well, Katy really wanted a baby and the girls
all wanted another sister but after they understood that wasn’t happening now
they were over excited. Our younger boys
were so happy and our older boys were hesitantly concerned about us being able
to handle another child as well as what it would mean for college plans. So with much excitement, we introduce our
newest son, Long Yake. He is 12 years
old, living in the same home as Katy and Sam lived in. He has wide set eyes, underdeveloped nose and
cleft lip and palate. He is pretty small
in size also. We have just received our
pre approval from China to move forward with our adoption process. We can now let him know that he has a family
working hard to bring him home. What
will his reaction be to our huge tribe.
I will let you know. Now the
answers we give to the next two questions.
How do we handle 10 children? I
want to scream that I absolutely have no idea!
Ha! How is that for an answer. It
is such a God thing. The only reasonable
explanation is that in our weakness God is strong. It just can’t be done without God. The children are happy, and flourishing. We are exhausted much of the time which
brings me to the last question on how we look so good for having 10
children. Scott might say when we look
like we have 10 children we just don’t go out in public. I just smile and say thank you. Rest is key to keeping our joy and time alone
for Scott and is top priority. If you
could please pray for us as we move through the process we would love
that. It can be a stressful time waiting
and making sure the paperwork is done right and in a timely manner along with
the expense of it all. I am waiting and
expectant for the wonderful works of God we are going to see and experience.
Matthew 25:40
New International
Version (NIV)
40 “The King
will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for
me.’