The Straka Family

(left to right) Kelci, Noelle, Chris, Andy, Bonnie, Aimee, Lily

TO CHINA AGAIN

Andy and Bonnie February 2009

-Beijing  (New Day Foster Home, Love Without Boundaries Heartbridge)

-Jiangxi province (Luke's home province for adoption)

-Guangzhou (American Consulate)

February 18, Red Couch Picture White Swan Hotel, Luke, Mommy, and Daddy Preparing To Return Home!

February 18, Red Couch Picture White Swan Hotel, Luke, Mommy, and Daddy Preparing To Return Home!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Meeting Luke



Here’s what we already know after spending a portion of a day with our new son.

He has a huge heart.  We’re not talking about his physical heart, which will need repair, but the grace of his spirit, the instant empathy and warmth he shows to others, the love and “old soul” understanding so evident in his eyes. 

The night before, we had flown in late to Beijing from Tokyo and been met at the airport by a driver and our new friend Caroline, who has chronicled her special relationship with Luke (Ping Nan) while working as travel coordinator at New Day.   On the forty-five minute drive to New Day, Caroline told us story after story about Luke and how excited he was to meet us.  His nannies had apparently laid out four possible outfits for Luke to wear when he met us the next day, and Luke had chosen the button-down style yellow shirt and khakis—a young prep boy waiting to happen, if ever there was one.

We had been able to keep it together up until the moment we were getting ready to step over into the children’s wing to meet Luke for the first time.  That’s when nervousness and the natural questions hit.  Will this little guy be everything we have been given to expect?  Will he be frightened by our appearance?  Will he be unruly?  Or will he be overcome with the enormity of the change about to happen in his life, shut down his emotions and refuse to give us eye contact? 

Having been through this process so many times before didn’t seem to help.  If our experience has taught us anything, it is that each child is totally unique, and each situation unique, and it is sometimes dangerous to try to generalize too much.  Better to hope for the best and keep our expectations realistic.  So there we were, standing at the entrance with Karen Brenneman, the Director of New Day Foster Home, on pins and needles. 

The door had only been open for a few moments and our shoes removed, when from down the hall came a flood of precious children, mobbing us like we were rock stars. 

“Ping Nan!” we heard one of the nannies call out.  “Your mama and your baba!”

And suddenly there he was, the best-dressed elf in the place, staring at us from down the corridor among all the others, making his way rather tentatively toward us.  We almost didn’t recognize him at first, so slight a figure in his clean khakis.  He went straight to Bonnie, stopping for a moment to look at her again, hesitantly holding out his arms to be hugged.  She hugged and kissed him and looked across at me. 

“Mama.  Baba,” he said.  Simple as that.

In an instant, we had added a new member to our family.  There are the necessary formalities of the paperwork yet to come, of course.  But leave it to Luke with his little earnest face and outstretched arms to instantly capture our hearts. 

Andy  

 

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful pictures!! I've been haunting the blog waiting to hear the latest updates.

    I can't wait to meet him.

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  2. Oh my! What a sweet sweet boy. I can't wait to hear more about him. Take care and God bless. Doris

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  3. I am so excited for you all. Luke really stole our hearts when we visited New Day almost 2 years ago. We have been praying for you guys since then. We have been praying for God to bring him HIS family and the day is finally here!!!!! If you are still at New Day, give everyone an extra big hug for us! May God continue to bless your family.

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  4. Oh Bonnie! It was so wonderful to see how well things are going for you guys. Luke is just adorable. LOVE the outfit he picked out!! I look forward to the next update :)

    XO
    Melissa

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  5. I cried while reading about your first day with Luke. Praise the Lord for bringing him together with your family! What a precious little guy.

    We can't WAIT for you all to come to GZ so we can see you! What fun it will be to see Luke in his rightful place in your family, and to hear how God is knitting your hearts together.

    With love and prayers,
    Joy

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  6. Oh man, you are making me cry!!! He is as adorable as I thought...and he is already yours!!! :)
    I am loving the blogs...keep it up. This is SO exciting!!!
    keep well....try to get enough sleep...love you,
    Sharon ans Mas

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  7. Bless you both for keeping us all up to date about the miracle of Luke.
    We get so excited when we read the blog, looking forward to welcoming you all back home to Charlottesville.

    Love,

    Denny & Judy

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