Part 2 Uhm NO
Uhm, WHAT??????!!!!!!!!!!!! Holland? Uhm, no. No, thank you. I know nothing, and I do not have an itinerary. Sadly, I do not have a place to stay. I don’t know where to eat. I know nothing. NOTHING. I can picture myself asking the stewardess if this is a layover. How long it will be before we arrive in PARIS, FRANCE. Then, she says that this is our destination.
Our ticket is one way, and they will add our children/pets onto the plane for the trip. This is where we will live out our days until the Lord sees fit to move us somewhere else. I had planned on staying in France for ten days, not my life. I certainly did not plan on LIVING in Holland, and what the heck do you mean you will bring our kids during the flight?????????
When we started creating our family, we had definite plans.
Big Daddy wanted one child, and I wanted 4. We compromised on 3. Our oldest was high-strung, motivated, and determined. She is also super sensitive to bright lights and noises and does not care for many people. Our second was a pistol. She was creative, loved animals, and told you like it was regardless of if it was appropriate or not. She has a bit of a lazy streak and wants things done for her more times than not. Our third, our only biological son, was an easy baby until he wasn’t.
N’s Journey
He was the first to crawl. He babbled, talked, loved eating, and then he had his 12 mths shots, and his life changed. Maybe that was when we were “packing” to go to Italy. It was like shades pulled down over his eyes. He stopped talking, threw lots of fights, and had sensory issues. It was tough. Our life was now full of speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. It was hard. The Lord guided us and helped us and allowed me to have a great deal of soaked in knowledge. Today, you would never know anything was ever wrong.
So with V, we started planning the trip. A, we started saving for the trip. Then, with N, we got on that plane and headed to Paris, France, to see all the things we could see on a 10-day trip.
Then there was God.
As we were flying, God saw fit to allow two more kids to join our crew. These kids were older than came from severe trauma physically, mentally, and emotionally and among other trauma, He thought it’d be a good idea to have Big Daddy and me raise them. It was almost like He threw me into the lion’s den as he did with D. I was unprepared. Realistically, I could love the FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder), RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder, Behavioral Issues, Dyslexia, Developmental Delays, Food gorging/hoarding/stealing out of them. Sadly, I wanted to fix them. Plain and simple.
While I was “trying” to “fix them, “…..God showed up again.
This time, it was a brief detour, on our flight, to Ethiopia. The trip there was ROUGH. It was full of turbulence and engine problems. We thought and were told we would not make it, but GOD had other plans. We made it. Instead of a 24 hr flight, it would take us 15 mths to get from where we were (on a plane headed on vacation to Paris) to Ethiopia because He wanted us to add to our dysfunctional crew. He was another older child, and he had a malnutrition brain and some behavioral issues; and we came to find out that he was deaf in one ear. He was not a little bit hearing impaired but deaf. Again, I could fix this. I could continue raising all these kids while “fixing” their issues and problems. I was content, tired, and overwhelmed but content.
But then, there was God again.
There have been tears from our first child to our sixth child. I was sitting on that plane, wishing to be at our destination so I could have some respite and time to breathe. God decided to be my breath and to live for me. He did this in the form of our seventh child, our Okapi.
I thought the stress of trying to fix my FASD, RAD, ADHD, PTSD, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, Deafness, Autistic tendencies, and Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome was going to bring me to my knees. Oh, heck no, this little dude came into my life and turned it upside down. He has taught me so much and given me such joy, but he also went from an ordinary little boy to a medically fragile kid in about 4 hrs. Please hear me say. I would not change a thing with this little guy. He brings us joy and happiness even amid uncertainty with his health.
Part 3: Welcome Home.
