One Year.

January 21, 2010 was a day forever etched in my heart and mind. It was the day a little boy walked off an elevator, completely unaware of what was happening, and into the arms of his forever family. For us, It was one of the happiest days of our lives. For Andrew, it was the saddest, hardest, and worst of his. Yes, he had a hard life in the orphanage but that was his home. The Nannies might have been mean but they were the only "Mama" he had ever known. Everything the sweet little one had held dear was slowly being ripped piece by piece away from him and he didn't know what to do.

We were in China trying to love him and speak to him and connect with him but he didn't understand. He spoke a different language. Love and Vocally. We looked different {blonde hair, blue eyes, glasses, etc}, We talked different, We ate different, We wanted to hug and kiss him, and we just wanted to love him. Something so foreign to him. The time in China was amazing, don't get me wrong. It was beautiful and perfect and we were so in love. Andrew blessed us from the moment we saw his face on May 1, 2009
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When we arrived home in February everything hit. It hit hard. We were alone. Andrew couldn't communicate. He was upset, confused, and so lost. He had no idea what was going on.
Andrew taught us how to love like crazy. He slowly learned to love us. We loved him all along. the good. the bad. the beautiful. the ugly. ALL worth it.
Andrew is a cleft affected child and his language is finally coming along SO well. We are so so so proud of our little man! He is proud too. He is doing so well in speech and is coming along beautifully.
The journey of Andrew was hard, I am not going to lie. We had a lot of hard days and a lot of good ones making the hard ones worth it.

We dealt with grief hard. The kind of grief no 4 year old little boy should have. Tears on both behalves and a lot of prayers begging God to heal hearts. We spent so many nights before Andrew came that God would heal Andrew's mouth and help his mouth to be ok {cleft lip/palate} We didn't realize that praying for Andrew's heart was needed, too. We prayed God would help heal the hurt in his heart and make him whole again. He did. God was so very faithful. Andrew is a precious loved Child of God. Jesus loves him so very much. We love him so very much!
Throughout this entire year there have been so many ups and downs. So many nights of crying and nights of celebrating another step in our progress towards Andrew's bonding!

We never imagined what adopting an "older" child would bring...How could we? We didn't know how a 4 year old little boy could rock our worlds. He blessed us in so many ways. God has taught us SO many lessons and so many things through this little boy. He even proved that Andrew's verse "With God ALL things are possible" was a PERFECT fit for our little man. After the long road to him and how God intervened and made clear he was OUR son there is no way to deny this is the verse for our boy. Andrew's story has just begun. On January 21 his old book of Orphanage life and others was put to the side. A new book of life with a Forever Family and becoming what God plans for him to be was opened and I feel so blessed to be all through this first year in his book. He has so many stories to tell. He has lived a life most would never, ever choose but it is HIS STORY. Every up, down, joy, and sadness is all Andrew. I cannot wait to see how God colors his "book" this year. I know it will be amazing, beautiful and perfect. Just like Andrew is.

We love you sweetness. Happy Gotcha, Baby. Look at how far we have come.