A very special day

Next to gotcha day, today was one of the more special days.   We got to travel to his province, Longgang which is in Shenzen.  We had a great visit with two of his foster families.  One is a social worker who housed Levi in his personal home for over 2 years.  It was obvious that he cares for Levi very much and he was happy to see he has a forever family.  We then traveled to the orphanage.  This is the same orphanage where 4 of our children once lived....Sam, Katy, Jasmine and Levi.  We saw a photo of Katy and Jasmine on the wall of the orphanage.  Walking those hallways, I couldn't help but think of all the lonely nights our children had sleeping there until they received news of a family....and while I'm so grateful to have them...my mind quickly went to all the other children who are still living in the orphanage hoping....praying...for their special day to come, too.  Yet, sadly, it doesn't come for all, and many "age out" and become too old to be adopted.  With all the resources in the world, this could be one of the greatest tragedies...a helpless child would live his/her whole life without a family.

Our next stop was with the foster family where he lived most recently.  The foster family who housed Samuel (and where we met Katy) and now Levi.  We had a nice lunch together and told them all about Sam's and Katy's life back in the States.  They were pleased to hear about their accomplishments and that they were happy & healthy.  The mom cried as we left....sad to see Levi go, but I also sensed a feeling of gratitude for the life & medical attention we've been fortunate enough to give these kids that they simply could not.

Levi seemed very proud to show off his new family (us) and was quite happy and talkative the entire time.  It made Wendi and I very happy to see him happy to be with us.

We ended up the evening with another dip in the pool...a nice way to burn off some energy before bed.  I'm sad that Wendi will be starting her journey back home tomorrow morning.  We will miss her greatly, but know the kids back in Denver will be very, VERY happy to see her!

Would you please pray for her safe travel?  Also, would you also pray for all the orphans in the world?  That God would place them in loving families....maybe yours!