Jack's Gift

Way back in October, when we first received our Pre-approval for Jack's adoption, we were given the needed information for sending care packages to Jack.  At that time he was still at Maria's Big House so it was fun to get pictures from Mikey (a friend from my mission trip as well as our official adoption liaison) letting us see Jack and his friends enjoying the first package we sent.

Shortly thereafter Jack was moved out of Maria's, however, so even though we have continued to send packages we have not received any other package feedback.  We can only trust that these other few gifts have arrived safely at the orphanage and that Jack has been reminded in a tangible way that we are still here and still working to bring him home.

Last month we had a bit of a different experience though.  Our friends, Bill and Kelli Jones, were traveling to China to bring home their beautiful daughter, Lilli, and had agreed to take a gift with them for Jack.  Lilli had been living at the same orphanage Jack is at so there was a very good chance they would be able to see him while there.  It seems that although touring groups (like those visiting during their mission trips to MBHOH) are not allowed to carry cameras into the orphanage facility adopting parents visiting for the purpose of meeting nannies and seeing where their child has been living are.  So... not only did Bill and Kelli have the potential to visit with Jack as many of my other Show Hope friends have done, they also had a pretty good chance of getting a photo or two for us - a real gift since the last picture we have received arrived on January 7.

Well, as it turned out, Bill and Kelli made the decision for their family to not visit the orphanage as it did not seem in the best interest of Lilli's emotional health at the time. Still wanting to help us though, Kelli arranged for another couple traveling in their group, Greg and Suzanne Kroeker, to carry our gift with them as they had chosen to visit the facility.  What a tremendous blessing!  Oh, and did I mention that Greg and Suzanne have never met us?  Well, I guess that's not entirely true as Suzanne and I are Facebook friends as a result of a few mutual interests - Lilli's adoption, Show Hope and JACK!  We actually "met" through commenting on Facebook posts from Kelli and Suzanne soon shared that her daughter met Jack when she traveled to Maria's on her own mission trip.  And then, of course, there is that whole Show Hope people are just like family thing.  But I digress... 

Back to the story...  The best part of this whole thing is that Greg and Suzanne were able to visit with Jack while at the orphanage and they were able to deliver our small gift to him.  This gift was really a photo album of Jack's family and what we have waiting for him - pictures of each of us, our street, our house, our dog, his room, his bed and more.  (All with Chinese subtitles, of course.)  

 

I don't know how much of that photo album he will really be able to digest before he actually begins to experience his new life, but hopefully it will spark at least a bit of an interest in his heart and allow him to begin the transition to the life waiting for him.  And hopefully it is serving as just one more reminder that we are here, we are working hard to bring him home, and we are coming!  Oh, and did I mention we got pictures?!

And they sent a video too!  Which was fantastic in SO many ways.  Probably the best way is that the Dan and the girls got a chance to see Jack in action.  We have many pictures of him around the house, but this gave them a chance to actually see him moving - like a real person - and smiling too.  It often makes me sad that Dan does not share any of the hands-on memories I have of Jack so I was very excited to tell him we got a video.  He had a mixed reaction.  He was thrilled to have a video of his son, but he was also saddened by the somewhat empty look in Jack's eyes.  Dan, like me, cannot wait to for Jack to be free from institutional life and living with his family so that the sparkle just waiting to shine in those eyes can get out.  When you watch it I think you will understand.

In all honesty, as excited as Dan and I were to have a video of Jack, I think Ellie got the biggest thrill from it.  She absolutely LOVED watching Jack and would get so excited when "he smiled at me!"  She must have watched it 20 times in a row and every time it came to an end she would say, "Come back, Jack!  Come back, Jack!" until we started it over for her.  Eventually she figured out how to simply start it again by herself.  And as I found out the next day, she also figured out how to start it even when it hadn't just been viewed.  Even today she got excited about it when she heard it playing while I put this together.  Now that has got to make you smile.  =)

So, now you've seen what we've seen and even seen one of us seeing it.  Next time though the video might just have me in it too, and THAT definitely makes me smile.