A Friend

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. 
-Proverb

Last night, I was Google-searching for photos of the Sanming SWI (my actual search was "Sanming City orphanage") and happened upon some photos of a girl I recognized from pictures with Travis.   The pictures linked to this blog from the Olson family.  (The Olsons blogged about our connection here: http://olsonfamilymatters.blogspot.com/2011/06/friend.html.)

A quick scroll through the blog and I recognized the parents as well.  Just the night before, I had spent hours surfing every corner of the Sanming City SWI's website and saw a video of this family visiting the SWI and getting their daughter.  (I had skipped through it though, and didn't see the photos of her with EnEn.)

They linked to a Picasa album of the orphanage and there was our little EnEn, playing with Yi Hong, now named Madelyn.  As I scrolled through thirteen photos of those two playing together, I was laughing out loud!




I view this as a gift for Travis (and Madelyn!).  I assume they will remember each other.  On the SWI's website, they said these two were close buddies.  I can tell!

For waiting and adoptive families, these seemingly small connections to our kids' past are not so small.  For many questions we have, there are no answers, so to find something like a treasured friend is more valuable than jewels.

Because of his life story, we know Travis was very confused and sad when he first arrived at the SWI.  To know he had a friend who brought him joy (and, by the looks of it, he provided some joy back) is a gift from God.

Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

You wouldn't think such little ones would have already experienced "adversity," but they have.  What a treasure that they could be "family" to each other for the short time they were together.

Comments

  1. DonnaJune 14, 2011 at 3:42 PM

    This is such a treasure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TeamOehlkersJune 14, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    God is blessing you with so many connections to your boys' pasts. I am jumping for joy with you!
    ~chris

    ReplyDelete
  3. Troy OlsonJune 14, 2011 at 5:48 PM

    Sarah -- So glad that you were able to find us. Again, that is some impressive investigative work you did. Can't wait for our kids to be able to see each other again -- what a truly special moment for both of them!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AdrienneJune 15, 2011 at 1:40 AM

    This is amazing. God does sweet things like this and it is just amazing to us when He does. I am so excited about this Sarah. You are truly this little man's mommy! Only a mommy would go searching like you have. I know you are aching to hold these little guys. The photos of him pushing Madelyn in the walker are priceless. How cool to see more expressions on his face than the few little shots you have had.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kerrie Carlisle PalmerJune 15, 2011 at 6:23 AM

    As Madeiyn's Nana, I am grateful for the gift of friendship between these two little ones. There's nothing better than seeing God bringing details together in a child's life. I have been praying for Travis since we first learned of him while we were waiting for Madelyn. I will be praying for all of you--what a wonderful new adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  6. SarahJune 16, 2011 at 3:24 PM

    Kerrie, That touches my heart that you've been praying for Travis. We can tell he's being prayed for when we see the photos of his happy, smiling face. Thank you for your thoughtfulness in prayer! We hope to get them together at some point in the future. How fun would that be?
    Adrienne, isn't that amazing?
    And Troy, thank YOU for being so good about blogging and posting photos! :) Madelyn is precious!

    ReplyDelete

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