On a weekend devoted to remembering those we love most, it was apropos to receive a woman very dear to our hearts into our home.
She loved our boy when he was only a few weeks old.
She served as his godmother at his baptism when he was under the care of the Sisters of Charity and gave him the name, David, after reading the account of David dancing before the Lord. In faith she believed that this little boy with no feet would one day dance too.
On his first birthday she showered him generously with gifts and graciously stepped back from spending time and working within eyesight of her favorite little boy in the green and white orphanage so he could start bonding and attaching with us, his new family.
When we learned that we would be moving to Albania, I dreamed of including her in our family's special days ... and other ordinary days in between.
At great personal sacrifice (and after finishing up the night shift with 25 little ones) she made the trip to Tirana from Elbasan on Sunday morning. We worshiped together at church, then she came to our home for lunch.
She watched Reni build his legos and got a tour of his bedroom.
We went for a walk in the park and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and talked about visiting again, and meeting her family.
It's difficult to put into words what she means to us, for the gift she gave us in loving our Reni before we even knew of him, selflessly giving away a piece of her heart to him, knowing it would be broken the day he left with his permanent family. Her generosity and courage humble me.
All I know is that we are so blessed to be able to continue a relationship with this special woman. I think she found joy in seeing how well he is doing and I hope it gives her courage to continue loving those who God puts in her care.
*P.S. Special thanks to Kerri Nixon for helping arrange this visit. We literally couldn't have done it without her!
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