Saturday, December 8, 2012

Adoption Doula!

Doula: "a non-medical person supporting a mother in childbirth, providing information, physical assistance and emotional support."




My sister went with us to China to help our family during the transition of adopting Jack Nathan.  Her role in our family turned out to be SO much more...




She was a servant of servants!  With incredible grace, patience and abounding love she cared for ALL of us.  On the plane, she helped feed, entertain, potty, hold etc.  
Finally arrived in Xiamen, after 30 plus hours of travel



We grew up in China together, so going back was a sort of "going home" experience in many ways for us.  The first few days of our trip were great, seeing the island we remember as kids, reuniting with friends who were really more like family.  We even walked by the Chinese school we attended together!


Heading to Gulangyu- with memories of childhood in the back ground!
Reuniting with our precious sister- Fuji!!

Reuniting with our landlady- a good friend!


Having coffee with our landlady, and seeing our old house

Our old gate!!  So many memories of our comings and goings from that squeaky gate.

When Josiah got so sick, she was a mother to my newly adopted son and my sweet Levi.  She cleaned up vomit and other sickness results!!  (that's true love)  She took our boys out of the hotel for walks, by herself!  She sat with me and Josiah in the hospital, waiting...  She wept with me, and we pleaded with God together for my child.



Words just can't describe how much she means to us, and how very much we love her!

Thank you Christy!  You are an amazing sister and fabulous friend.

(We HIGHLY recommend all adopting families, traveling with children, to have an Adoption Doula!)  

















6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was beautiful and so true. I love you, too, Christy!

Anonymous said...

Totally crying over this post...wow. The home memories and seeing you girls together...you're right..Chris is one in a bajillion! Love you both--katey

Kasturi said...

Beautiful!! just like the two of you. Filled my heart with love and joy and all that is truly meaningful in this world in an instant. Takes me back oh! so many years ago when I met sweet Christy for the first time.

Thanks for your beautiful posts Patty and much love to you both, Lee, Patrick and all 7 angels.
Kasturi

Christy Younger said...

Oh man, what a blessing it was for Me to go.. And to read this. So sweet! I love you guys and am so grateful you took me along!

Unknown said...

Seeing these sweet pictures of you two together in China totally made me cry. You both look almost exactly the same as when I met you 20 years ago!! This was so sweet, thanks for sharing it.

James Lee Younger III said...

Paba, thanks for this post. I love reading it and seeing the pics of my girl being a rockstar in China with you guys. We love you! (Go, Trusty!)