Red Thread - The Story Behind the Video

An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.  -Ancient Chinese Proverb

This proverb is one you will see often in the stories of families adopting from China.  The entire adoption journey is often referred to as a "Red Thread Journey".

As a believer in God, Elohim, Creator of everything, I know that He is the one that directs this "red thread".

We received an email from a young woman telling me she might have some information about one of our sons.  Following the link she provided to her blog, I saw that she had spent the summer in ZhengZhou, China working in the Lily Orphan Care Rooms (LOCC) in the SWI, holding and loving on babies.  (How cool it THAT? My girls are already saying they want to do that when they are older.)

I replied that Ken and I would love information and she sent the video, reminding me that it might not be him, but she thought it very well could be.  Tian had been moved to a foster home, so she hadn't seen him until this day he came in with his foster mother.  He sat down in front of the mirror and began playing with his own reflection.  She said, "I took a short video of him with the off chance that I may get in touch with his adoptive parents one day."


Guardedly, I opened the file and watched the video.  Cute baby boy!  Can it be him?  That first expression he makes doesn't look like him.  Watch again.  Hmm...It sure looks like him there, but not here.  That face doesn't look familiar.  But look at his ears!  I have close-up photos of his unique ears.  Dig out every photo we have of Tian to compare. Watch video again, pausing each frame.  Yep! That's him!  Those are his ears!  That's his expression! That is our son!


My heart was beating quicker by the minute as I watched the video over and over, then asked Ken to come upstairs to view the "evidence" I had collected that assured me that this was Tian.


Why didn't we recognize him instantly?  Because we've only seen a few still photos.  He smiles in his infant pictures, but he has a neutral expression in the more recent pictures.  We weren't used to seeing him make all of those faces.


I sent the video to Xia from our agency.  She was there at the LOCC when Tian was brought in and has seen him several times since, including last October.  She confirmed what Ken and I had already decided.  This is Tian!


As a side note of more people tangled up in our red thread, I don't think my blog would have been found by this family if I had not switched to Blogger upon the request of my new friend, introduced to me on Facebook by my grade school best friend.


I'm going to end on a cheesy note, but as I typed this, an old church camp song kept playing in my mind:
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together with cords (threads!) that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together with love.