Joshua

On the first day of blogging my fuzzy mind said to me you have to share about the spice in your life and no, this will not be an x-rated post for at this season of life the Tabasco of my world bottled up in a 30 lb little China Boy who we affectionately called while in China, "Typhoon Chuin Chuin". Given that I haven't posted anything about this wild man in a year, this post could be a long one so I will try to hit the highlights.

Our little typhoon blew out of China and never looked back. He embraced his new life with such enthusiasm and energy and had little to no residue from life in an orphanage (although we don't think he spent much time in his orphanage, more about that in later post). From day one he was filled with spunk and happiness and never met a stranger. He engaged all people with such a healthy social appropriateness causing everyone he met to fall in love with him. In all honesty, I was unprepared for his high energy, curiousness and extreme need for social interaction. The transition into our family was a breeze for him while I find myself still adjusting. Maybe it is because for the first time in my life I haven't been home full time with my baby. I went back to work a week after returning home from China and while I think Joshua and I have a strong bond there is nothing like being a stay at home mama with a new child.

Joshua spent his mornings with Mike and we quickly realized that if we didn't find a more structured environment for him soon our house wouldn't survive this typhoon so we enrolled him in a preschool down the street. He thrived in the structured environment and when summer rolled around I had my chance to spend some uninterrupted time with him and did this boy wear his mama and siblings out. Our neighbor describes him as "intensely curious" which is putting it mildly. He has 4 people with their eyes on him almost all the time and has managed to destroy almost every electronic in the house, break his fair share of precious things, waste countless rolls of toilet paper by stuffing it in the toilet, ruining a dozen of his mama's Ann Taylor blouses with bleach and the list could go on and on. Even three surgeries couldn't slow this kid down. He is the energizer bunny on steroids.

Having said all of this, his joyfulness is refreshing and his love, so forgiving and endless. His smiles melt my heart and his hugs fill me with a warmth that is indescribable. I am convinced that there are some issues under these layers that will one day be revealed. We continue to chip away at pieces that make up this little man. There are quite a number of physical issues that we were unaware of coupled with tons of questions and speculations about what his life might have been like while in China. He has one heck of a story, I am sure and hopefully one day we will be able to put all the pieces together but in the meantime we take him as he is just like Our Savior accepts us. We love him passionately with reckless abandon as Jesus loved us and we see ourselves in Joshua, broken, bruised and in desperate need of safe places to land.