The Grand Tour

The last three weeks have been so full!! On top of just learning how to be a family of three we have had numerous appointments as I have outlined in other posts, but second only to the day we met our son was our visit to Los Pisingos on Monday afternoon. The appointment served a few purposes but one main reason for going was to be given the grand tour of the foundation. The day we met Luis, we were in one administrative office and then led up to the nursery where we received him and then back out. This time we were shown all of the different areas from the bedrooms of the older children, to the kitchens, to the playground. We returned to the nursery and all of the emotions flooded back as this time we were told which bed was Luis´ when he lived there. We also saw the rooms for older babies and toddlers and realized that he would have been moved into those areas within only a few weeks had we not been given the beautiful blessing of being his parents. We met several of his nannies who recognized him and were commenting on how much he has grown even in the last three weeks.
We were incredibly impressed as we walked around. There were a number of children playing both inside and out and it was so precious to watch the nannies interact with them. All in all, it is a beautiful place with photos lining the walls of the children who have lived there and gone on to find their forever families. One amazing photo that will stick with me for a long time was of a bride and her 2 bridesmaids. We were told that all three girls had been adopted from Los Pisingos as small children and are now sisters as a result. They have sent photos back over the years and this was the most recent.
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and although I love words I find them falling short to express the emotions I felt. I don´t feel as though my heart has been broken but something even more powerful. I feel that it has been reformed. All that I was still exists but the newness and the change and the expansion is overwhelming! The first photo we ever saw of Luis pulled my heart and made me sure that everything we had been going through to get homestudy approved, and to track down and wade through the mountains of paperwork was all worth it...he is worth it and looking at that photo I knew I wanted to be his mommy more than anything. The photos we took on Monday make me sure that this whole process would be worth doing again as many times as God allows, because these children need mommies and daddies. It would be worth doing again because these children are receiving so much love right now and being cared for beautifully by people who would love nothing more than to tearfully say goodbye to them and watch for their photos in the mail, photos of birthdays, Christmases, graduations and weddings shared with grandmas and grandpas, brothers and sisters, mommies and daddies. It would be worth doing again because ´true religion that the Lord honors is to care for widows and orphans´, and I understand that more now than ever before.