Traveling Post # 10: Our Mischievous Escape Artist

Reece's Rainbow picture

Wow, what to say about Trenton James.  We were forewarned that Tihon (the birth name he was given by hospital staff) was very inquisitive and ornery.  They also declared him to be an Escape Artist who has outsmarted even the most seasoned orphanage caregiver on more than one occasion.  In fact, caregivers who have never been around him knows how he is.  Upon hearing that, I knew God had chosen the perfect son for our family!  I am a person who does not do well with boring and mundane.  I need a little extra spice in my life.  (I often end up eating those words, though...)

From the moment we saw his picture on the Reece’s Rainbow website, we could see he was a mess.  When the updated pictures of him came from both the Hagler and Miller families who were adopting children from the same orphanage prior to our adoptions, it was confirmed.  True to picture character, "mess" was pouring out of the gleam in Trenton's eyes and the half-cocked grin that graced each picture.  There was absolutely no denying what type of child God had called us to adopt.  David was a little worried, but excited.  I was not worried in the least and beyond ecstatic!  Again, I do not do boring...or mundane...

The day that we had been waiting an eternity for came and, once again, our suspicions were confirmed.  On Monday, August 22, 2011 we met our little Escape Artist who we had been praying for since November 2010.  Immediately, we were able to see the ever so slight gleam in our son’s eyes which had only been seen in pictures up until now.  He walked in like he owned the place and like we were just another mama and papa who were passing through visiting his orphanage.  A mama and papa he had been trained to entertain on so many occasions.  In that moment, we did not matter to him in the least.  We would be gone soon, never to grace his presence again. 

Giving his mama a "high five"

The caregiver who brought him to us told him to give me a “high five” and he walked over, held his hand up, and quickly slapped my hand.  Upon exchanging our high five, the biggest grin appeared on his face and the sweetest little giggle escaped from his mouth.  I could see that both had been rehearsed countless times and meant nothing in as far as sincere feelings went.  To be honest, it did sting a little as I had been dreaming of and imagining for months a glorious first meeting between mama, papa, and son.  A perfect fairytale meeting.  He then kissed his hand and threw me the kiss as he confidently walked over to the Orphanage Director’s desk to grab something off of it.  David and I just let him do his own thing, praying that he would eventually warm up to us and know that we were his mama and papa.  We had undeniably been given that Promise and we would give Trenton as much time as he needed.  

Then.  The magical moment which only God could orchestrate occurred.  His caregiver told him we were his mama and papa and he will now have a real family in America.  (Prior to meeting our children, we had been firmly warned to not mention or say the words “mama” and “papa” in their presence and, in absolutely no way, acknowledge we were there to adopt them. We were told to interact with them as American visitors. Nothing more.)  Our sweet little Trenton stopped ignoring us, turned around, and came to me with his arms up.  I immediately swept him up and started kissing him all over his face and neck.  He desperately clung to me the whole time while letting out the most contended giggle I've ever heard.  A giggle which was completely different from the one he had given a couple of hours before.  I eventually handed him to David and his little chubby arms went around David’s neck.  We were both desperate to soak in every inch of our son before he had to go back to his groupa since our allotted time for the visit was now up.

Upon asking the Director, David and I were given permission to pray over our new son before the caregiver took him from our arms.  As we laid hands over him to pray ~ the first of many physical prayers we will undoubtedly spend a lifetime voicing ~ we both dropped to our knees.  We prayed that Christ would begin to make Himself known to our new son in the ways that Trenton would understand.  We prayed that Christ would equip us to raise this precious boy into a man after God's own heart and that others would see the joy, unconditional love, patience, and kindness that is already so ingrained in the spirit God has gifted Trenton.  We prayed that when others saw that, they'd immediately recognize it as Christ-given.  Finally, we prayed that Trenton would have opportunities to seek Christ and grow in Him outside of our home.  We prayed for churches (our current one and any future churches) and the members who will minister to Trenton through Pre-school, Children's, Youth, College & Career, and Young Adult Ministries.  We prayed that Trenton would have the chance to grow in Christ alongside his typical peers and that they, in return, would grow in Christ through Trenton's example.  As we ended the prayer, I could not help but begin to weep at the significance of our prayer and what that future would look like for Trenton James Barnett, our son.  It was a beautifully refreshing and peaceful weeping as I knew that The Lord will one day be faithful in providing those opportunities.    

He is up to something

Our Mischievous Escape Artist’s gleam shifted ever so slightly as we gave him one final kiss for the day before the caregiver took him from my arms.  The gleam had now become one of initial resolve ~ the beginnings of a perfect resolve which can only be found in the peace provided by Christ.  We know that Trenton is not yet aware of the One Who fearfully and wonderfully created him (Psalm 139:13-14) and Who uniquely molded him by hand to have Down syndrome (Isaiah 64:8).  But, what we do know is that The Lord has entrusted David and me to parent this little Ukrainian orphan with Down syndrome and that gift will never be lost on us.  We are far from being perfect parents.  Very far.  We will make many mistakes in raising Trenton and the rest of our children, but we will never lose sight of the One who has called us to be Obedient 2 His Command as we seek His grace and His redemption through the mistakes and shortcomings.

Trying to escape