Gable's Story…from Another Perspective

We all love a good story…and today I'm going to give you a unique opportunity to observe the adoption of Gable from another angle…my new friend Mimi's.
Who is Mimi? She's a rockstar, Jesus-loving, momma to 11 children. She has adopted some, given birth to others and is a beautiful testimony of walking with God through the hard very hard things.
She's also the momma I was connected with to learn about Gable's special need: hepatoblastoma.
Cuz I had NO CLUE what that meant. (other than "scary cancer.")
Why is Mimi an "expert-in-residence" you may ask? Because her own sweet son has this very same cancer. (Above is a picture of Mimi holding sweet baby Asa.) I received Mimi's name and contact information within 48 hours of learning about Gable. 
But read on to find out JUST HOW EXCEPTIONAL it is that we were connected!
Here's what Mimi blogged on her blog just yesterday:

I haven’t mentioned it here, but a funny little blip came across my radar two months ago.  At that point, we were truly just holding our nose above the drowning waters, knowing we were past the big waves. I got a random message from someone I know very loosely.  She knew Asa had liver cancer and asked if I would be willing to offer counsel to a family who was considering adoption of a child with liver cancer. Easy answer.  But, of course.  And I sat back and began to watch God show off.

Two years ago, not too long before Asa came along, a little boy was born to a Chinese couple, a little boy with a big liver tumor that made his belly stick out like Asa’s did.  And the same couple, I’m sure distraught with the one child policy and the thought of their only heir being imperfect, sickly, left that babe at a hospital.  Diagnosis: hepatoblastoma, the one in a million kid cancer that Asa had, the one that Texas Children’s, one of the few hospitals in the states that treats this cancer, only sees 10 cases a year from all over the southern US. But what happens next is entirely strange.  Instead of getting pitiful orphan care, this Chinese boy got top-notch, cutting-edge medical treatment.  He was stabilized, whisked in and treated with chemo-embolization – chemo straight to his liver and he went through exactly what Asa went through, the horrid secondary effects of sloughing off tumor, called tumor lysis, and he victory of all victories, survived.  It was a long hard road, but it appears, as it does with Asa, no more cancer.  He was put in an orphanage, group type home and he thrived, but no one adopted him, because that big C word, it’s scarier than a lot of more obvious physical disabilities.

But along comes a family, a family who has experienced their own loss, a family who just so happens to speak Mandarin, but God has yanked them up and dumped them in the rural central US, filled their home with a few other physical disabilities, and left them, left them a few hours from the other major hospital in the US that deals with this one in a million chance cancer.  Their house is full, very full, but along their radar comes a smiling face, a familiar face, because dark eyes and round faces are still on their hearts, and a boy named Jun Jun captures them.

And then I was called for counsel.  What is hepatoblastoma?  What does this mean?  Do you understand these medical records?  I was called, the parent of a child treated not only for this cancer, but with chemo-embolization, not a standard procedure in children in the US for this cancer.  Tony and I may be the only parents in the US at this time that would have that experiential knowledge regarding a child. Explain that. You can’t.  But God.

The story departs to a weird, seemingly diverted path at this point.  After all the discussion, the couple who inquired suddenly decided that they weren’t so sure that God was calling them to this child and went to prayer and as back up, they held their arms out and handed Jun Jun to us, the only other couple without gross fear of his condition.  And we were left for a week or so to wrestle in prayer for this boy, and wrestle with the fact that we are a bit older than this couple.  During that week, God turned the world upside down on behalf of this boy.  People began offering this other couple serious money for adoption expenses, expenses on an adoption they weren’t even decided upon, an adoption they hadn’t even announced.  Someone offered to take their special needs kids while they went to back and forth to China – twice.  After this and prayer, it became abundantly clear where Jun Jun was supposed to be.  And after jumping a few more hurdles, last week Jun Jun was cleared by China to be adopted by this family.

And today I sat in church and listened to a man speak about God’s heart for the widow and the orphan and I was again reminded through another story that God truly moves mountains upon their behalf and again, I saw God weave deep redemption from suffering. Dark doesn’t win.  Light does, no morbid second act where all goes wrong.  Great joy! The end game is settled. 

Did you catch that??? There was SO MUCH in what Mimi wrote…let me lay it out so you can marvel over what our MIGHTY GOD has DONE!
* Gable, an orphan, has received TOP NOTCH cancer treatments in China. Amazing. What he has had done is considered experimental in the United States. (Incidentally, he's also had a successful liver resection meaning he will not need a transplant and run the risk of his body rejecting it or being on anti-rejection drugs for his life.)
* We live just 5 hours from one of the two BEST hospitals for treating hepatoblastoma. And we already take Esty there.
* Mimi is a parent of a son who is STILL going through treatment for his hepatoblastoma. After the icky cancer treatments failed him, he was given the kind of chemotherapy that Gable had as a last resort. It is working, but it is UNBELIEVABLY RARE that I would be connected with a parent in the States who has had experience with this type of treatment. (And she loves Jesus!) At one point along the way, she asked me if I had any clue how crazy it was that I was able to talk with her about all of this. I didn't…"was it rare?" I asked. She answered, "BEYOND RARE!!" Yep. That's God at work!
* Mimi was along for the ride while Brian and I wrestled in prayer about actually adopting again. (Oh we were SO DONE. We are so busy. So overwhelmed. So spent. BUT GOD.) She was able to cheer alongside, pray alongside and root for us as we sought to say YES to God. 
* We were promised finances to bring Gable home before we ever said yes to his adoption. That has NEVER happened before!
* We have precious people who are asking us if they can stay with our children when we travel to bring him home. (As a momma, this is one of the big concerns when adopting internationally…and God has taken care of this EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.)
I thought you might enjoy hearing a little bit of the back story to how we arrived at our decision to adopt Gable…from that unique perspective that Mimi has shared.
Following God continues to prove to be a wild adventure and it is SO MUCH FUN to see how His hand weaves all the millions of details together for our good.

When Intentions Don't Match Up with Reality…Part 2

Okay, so I guess I learned that I am LOUSY at doing part 1 and part 2 posts!! (Forgive me.)
But people, it's now time for PART TWO.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you would be ahead of the game to read PART ONE here.
And now…on to part two. (WAIT A SECOND...I know you skipped part 1!! GO READ IT, SILLY!!)
I concluded part 1 with a list of how we can act in the face of something that takes us by surprise…we can look at it from our limited human perspective, or take on God's perspective.
Because sometimes, life throws something at us that we NEVER saw coming.
And so it is with us. Now.
Up till now, we have dealt with a long list of medical diagnoses which include (but Lord knows are not limited to): collapsed lungs, thyroid disease, arthrogryposis, scoliosis, concussions, spina bifida, congenital hip disorders, neurogenic bladder and bowel and a multitude of broken bones.
Never did I foresee this one being added to the list.
GULP.
The "C" word.

But there it is, big and ugly. Seeking to kill, steal and destroy.
But God.
Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away,  a baby was born.
He was a boy.
Soon after as he was born, it was discovered that he had an odd shaped abdomen. He was pale, listless and clearly something very scary was wrong. 
A frightened set of parents did what was illegal, and unimaginable: they abandoned him. 
Maybe they knew that they could not possibly pay to have the proper treatments. Maybe they knew an orphanage would. Or they could HOPE.
Once found by the police and taken to a local orphanage, an exam was performed. Blood work was taken and the worst news possible was delivered: the newborn child had a massive malignancy in his liver.
Hepatoblastoma.
Incredibly rare. Incredibly scary.
And he was alone.
Over the next months, the baby had 3 surgeries and lots of chemotherapy.
The baby was given special care in the orphanage through a program called Half the Sky. He began to gain weight, hit milestones and a very bubbly personality emerged.
And the boy's papers were prepared so that he could find a permanent home.
He waited. And waited. "Cancer" is a very scary word on a file, you see.
Far away, in another corner of the world lived a mother of seven children. She was busy each day making food, washing clothes and encouraging other people in their own adoptions. She had a VERY FULL life and was not looking for more work.
She was not. She was not.
Her social worker alerted her to the upcoming expiration of her family's home study, to which she and her husband adamantly responded that they were letting it expire as they were DONE ADOPTING CHILDREN. Their family was full.
And expire it did.
But God.
God used the adorable boy on the side bar of this blog "Jesse" to crack open that tightly shut door of their hearts. Perhaps they COULD find room in their home for one more? But after further prayer and consideration of ages and physical needs the answer was clear: he was not theirs.
Once this cracked door let in light…God showed the picture of the baby to this momma of seven children. Her youngest child happened to be sitting on her lap at the time the picture popped up on the computer screen.
"Oh Mommy!!!" he cried. "I LOVE HIM!!"
The busy mother paused as her heart began to pound and tears began to well. In the next 48 hours God did some of the most amazing and supernatural acts to show this mother and her husband that He intended for this boy with cancer to come home to them and to become their son forever.
Gulp.
And they still were not sure. They wanted MORE proof.
So they prayed. 
And prayed.
And asked for other people to pray that God would speak CLEARLY to their hearts.
One person in particular (oh what a blessed woman of God she is!!) responded to the request for prayer in a most unusual way.
She told this family she would personally give them $10,000 to bring him home.
And they were stunned. But still unsure. It wasn't until she gave them a detailed plan of how she would raise these funds for this boy to become theirs that they finally realized that MAYBE this was how God was answering their prayers for clarity!!
And all of a sudden, a flurry of activity began. 
Applications, fingerprints, home inspections and personal interviews were underway. A home study had to be prepared!! (This is funny to someone, I am sure!)
And then, yesterday, after a very long wait, this family got the news that this boy's home country had approved them to adopt this boy with cancer.
They were OVERJOYED!!!!!
They would boldly welcome this dear child into their family of 9 and grow once again. 
~ (I want to say, "the end" but you guys know that this is NOT the end of the story!!)
And so, with great JOY JOY JOY in our hearts we announce that yes,
WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN…even though OUR plan was to be all done.
Even though our idea was SEVEN…God's idea was eight!!!
And as you may already know, GOD WINS!!!!