A Family One Year in the Making!

 It has been 365 days since two became three. One year since we felt your skin and looked into your eyes, calmed your fears and began a journey like no other.  If the Lord had told me ahead of time what this year would be like, I would have rejoiced, cried, laughed, hid, danced, praised His name, slept five hundred hours ahead of time and worshiped.  It has definitely been the hardest, but absolute best year we have ever had in our lives!  To see the transformation and binding up of wounds by our heavenly Father of an orphan to become a son was miraculous to say the least. Eli has been delivered in so many ways and in so many areas of his life and so have I.

On Monday December 15th we celebrated 1 year with our fiesty, loving and high energy boy. I can't believe how fast it went and that we are celebrating all that has been accomplished in our home.  The Lord has truly shown Himself faithful in the Pilato household.  Eli went from being such a sad, withdrawn and scared little baby boy to a jubilant, strong-willed (which will be a good character trait when he is older I keep telling myself), constantly running, Jesus-loving boy.  What a thing to rejoice!  The Lord has taken him out of the orphan spirit and placed him in a spirit of sonship-what an amazing fulfillment of scripture. We truly rejoice and take comfort in knowing the Lord works always on our behalf!

Is it always praise and flowers and sparkles and rainbows in our home where we are gushing over our dear son? no NO!  It has been a fight many many many times over-a spiritual fight, but the Lord is mighty to save and that is what we claim for Eli!  Allowing the Lord to work on his heart, mind and body is the greatest gift we can give Eli besides a family!  It has been hard work people!  HARD WORK!  Building trust, forming attachments and destroying fear does not happen immediately or because he is in a happy home!  It's slow, pain-staking, earth shattering and grueling at times. There are days where you think so much progress has been made and  only to find yourself with a melting-down child every five seconds who won't let you out of his sight.  We press on though, we pray though and pray some more though because that's what we've been charged to do as Eli's parents. It's such a privilege to have that responsibility and to raise him, such a joy and privilege!

Thinking back one year ago, it's amazing how much I remember that day! So many details and emotions that will forever be with me.  I remembering anxiously waiting to take the van to airport, waiting to board the flight to Xi'an, sitting on a flight to the middle of China, landing and feeling butterflies, rushing to the van, rushing to the hotel, throwing everything all on the bed trying to find the items we needed for Eli, shaking, rushing to the bank, watching the people ride bikes with baskets full of food everywhere while waiting for the guys and gal to back from exchanging money, listening to Sherry our guide advise us on our kiddos, taking the squishy elevator to our babies, being surprised to see Eli standing right there waiting for me in between Kya and Elyana, shaking some more, listening to Eli try not to cry several times, watching Eli cling to a package of Chinese Oreos, being handed my son for the first time, smelling him for the first time, touching him for the first time, seeing him smile for the first time, feeling my heart be full for the first time, holding Eli after he passed out to sleep in the van, shopping for Eli, taking him to our room, feeding him for the first time, dressing him in jammies and feeding him his bottle as he drifted to sleep.  I didn't sleep a wink that night. I haven't slept much since!!!I love it though and wouldn't trade it for anything!  These memories are just the major things I remember of that day, I would need a whole book to record every single memory of the day we became a family!  It's the most amazing experience and those of you who have adopted know what I am talking about.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

  

Fast forward one year later, we decided to celebrate the way most tri-state people would during Christmas time:see the tree, go to F.A.O. Schwartz and eat Chinese food in the city.  We live 25 miles outside of NYC so we headed in to introduce Eli to the Big Apple and all it has to offer during Christmas time!  I grew up seeing the tree during Christmas and seeing musicals throughout my childhood and it felt so amazing now taking my own child to do the same and carry on that tradition!  We took pics in front the Rockefeller Christmas tree, watched the ice skaters, oooed over the model train in F.A.O. Schwartz a thousand times, saw the Big Piano, and picked out a toy.  We ended the afternoon with a delicious lunch at Lilli and Loo Chinese restaurant which has a fantastic gluten free menu if any needs to know!!! By the end of the day Eli was completely exhausted and completely on sensory overload! We have been spending this week trying to keep a quiet schedule and get back into our routine to reassure 
 him.

      

 We had a terrific day celebrating the courage, strength, bravery, joy and fiestiness our son has.  He has taught us so much in a mere 365 days and I cannot wait to see what the next year has in store!  What an amazing day and amazing God we serve!

 God is good and we are blessed!

 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

 Philippians 4:4

Dedicated and Delivered

Two weeks ago we had the privilege to dedicate our sweet, precious boy to the Lord in front of our entire congregation.  What was truly special about this day was that it was exactly a year ago to the day that we stood in front of church giving our testimony and announcing we had accepted a referral for a little boy!  God works things like that out so amazingly!

AJ and I spearhead an adoption/orphan ministry in our church, so we were able to promote our agency with a video they sent us and we added our own pictures to highlight our journey and lay seed in the hearts of our church to step out and help those who are helpless. We dressed Eli in one of his traditional Chinese outfits, which fit the day perfectly!  

It was such a sweet time to relish in the favor of the Lord and to promise to raise Eli in Word of God. Our pastor did a phenomenal job incorporating the importance of adoption not just amongst us here on Earth, but the true adoption of us as children to our Abba Father!  He made a beautiful statement saying that in the Bible adoption does not have the connotation that it may have here on Earth.  Adoption in the Bible is the welcoming in of those truly sought after, that it a highly revered action....what a bold statement that is so true! 

 Some people believe orphans or adopted children are/were unwanted, second fiddle to others....HOW UNTRUE!  If anything they are wanted more, fought for more and desired more than anyone could ever understand! What a heart goes through in bringing a child from a hopeless situation into a world of promise is overwhelming in the least!  Adoption is the most beautiful miracle AJ and I have EVER experienced besides the salvation of Jesus Christ.  We are thrilled to give our cherished boy the love, the family and the Good News he deserves!  What a special day to celebrate the miracle of adoption-not only of Eli, but us into the Kingdom of God!  WOW!  TO GOD BE THE GLORY! AMEN!

By the way, the spiritual meaning of the name ELI is delivered....(I'll leave it at that!)

God is GOOD and we are BLESSED!

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

 Romans 8:14-17

The Red Thread Was Tied 1 Year Ago

I am sitting here holding back many many many tears today. Tears that are of many emotions, but primarily of thankfulness and joy.  Having Eli as our son, as our very own is overwhelming in so many ways and hard to put into words; GRATEFUL does not even begin to express how we are feeling about this boy, this experience and our God!

There is a Chinese proverb many of you are familiar with and one that we love.  We even did a beautiful puzzle fundraiser centered around this proverb. It is a very deep and meaning saying that holds a lot of weight.  Of course, we know the Lord is in control and has everything planned out for our life but we love everything about this proverb.  Here it is:

"An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."  


A year ago today, we were waiting tirelessly, anxiously and with decreased patience to lay eyes on our child.  We had been through a hard two and half months of waiting.  You see right after our dossier was logged in to the system them Chinese government in charge of logging adoption documents decided to overhaul their systems and EVERYTHING crashed (along with me--I was beside myself).  Our agency said they could see we were logged in but could not access our log in date and, as a result, could not match us.  It really didn't matter anyway because lists of children were not even being sent out to agencies to be matched...everything had come to a screeching halt. We were devastated, but again the Lord was teaching us something very very important-TRUST.

After 2.5 months of waiting we got our actual LID and a mere few days later we received the call of a lifetime.  I was treating a little guy (I am a speech language pathologist) and AJ was at work.  It was 3:30 in the afternoon and I kept hearing my phone buzz. Now, all the parents of the children on my caseload knew that we were expecting a call any day and knew that if AJ kept calling it was IMPORTANT!  My heart skipped a beat when I saw how many times he called!  I was shaking, I picked up the phone and heard Amy (our coordinator) and AJ on the phone.  I could hear it in his voice "Baby!  We've been matched!"  Amy went on to tell us that she had a little 15 month old boy with some minor medical needs. That's about all I heard. I felt like I was floating! In actuality, I was shaking uncontrollably! She asked if we would like to procceed and of course we said YES! Amy said she would send the file to AJ (he was the one in charge of pretty much all the paperwork).  I told AJ not to look until we were together, but come to find out he looked and was in love immediately.  He brought home pics of Eli to show me and he video recorded my reaction! Of course, I was overcome with so many emotions, thoughts and feelings.  After 5 years of trying to start a family, the Lord's chosen child for us was finally staring back at me!  It was one of the most incredible feelings I had ever had.  The gratitude and gratefulness were overflowing from my heart and I was instantly in love!

Since bringing Eli home seven months ago, we have seen a total transformation in the little boy God created to be ours.  The Lord has also transformed our hearts and taught us so much in the little time we have had already with our son.  The Lord IS faithful and heals the brokenhearted.  All three of us were broken and through this experience, through the adoption of our son and through the adoption of Sonship by our Lord and Savior we have been restored, given hope and given a beautiful family!  

One year ago, we saw God's promise come to fruition , we saw an explosion of favor and we saw ...our son!

We love you my baby boy...what a true miracle you are....

God is Good and we are blessed!

I'll leave you with Eli's life verse that's hanging in his room:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be discouraged. Do not be afraid.

 For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9 

 

A GRRRRReat Puppy Paw-ty!

Our little Eli is not so little anymore! Not only has he gained about 9 pounds, grew 5 inches, and is using 3+ word phrases, he turned 2 in April!  As much as it makes this Mama sad her little baby boy is not so little anymore, my heart REJOICES in the fact he is not a malnourished, sad, scared orphan anymore. We also wanted to celebrate all of who Eli is and has become with our dearest friends and family (WARNING PHOTO OVERLOAD)!!!!

In April, we had a small celebration with grandparents and some aunts and uncles at our home.  At that time, Eli was still not ready for a big celebration with a lot of people.  So we planned something a couple months after, thus our Puppy Party Bonanza!

The party was held at a beautiful park that I played in when I was little.  It brought back so many memories to be there watching my son run in the fields and play on the playground.  It was so much fun and everyone enjoyed the day.  

Eli was none too happy at first to see a rather large crowd, a bouncy castle, decoration galoure, toys and a sandbox.  In fact, he wanted nothing to do with any of it and screamed for the first half of the party.  In true Eli form, he observed, watched and contimplated then...he decided a puppy party was a pretty cool deal and had the time of his life.  It also helped that all us Hartwick peeps decided to take our turn in the bouncy castle and Eli and his bud Olivia were jumping quite high!  He LOVED the day.  

It was such a great day filled with sooooo much joy and love. Many of those that came to celebrate were meeting Eli for the first time!  What a blessing!

 

 We are so proud of our boy, who he is, his love for Jesus and puppies and how brave he is...something to truly celebrate puppy style!

 God is good and we are blessed!

 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it

Psalm 118:24