Introducing the newest addition to the Jenkins
family---Maverick Ryder Jenkins!!! Aka---“Big Mac”, who incidentally, might be
smaller than his little sister, Bean;)
Thank you to ALL who prayed, gave of their time, and/or
money to help us adopt. There is one less orphan in the world because of it.
So far, things have been smooth-sailing. Knock on wood;) I
am pretty stinkin’ lonely, but besides that I could not have asked for a
smoother process. I flew out on Friday
and landed in Beijing over 24 hours later. I managed to get myself from the
airport to the hotel, WITHOUT A GUIDE---woohooo! Then back to the airport the
next morning for a domestic flight from Beijing to Nanjing. Keep in mind this
is the EXACT orphanage that Wade was adopted from, so memories were flooding
back for me. I got myself from the Nanjing airport to the hotel by taxi and
checked in without incident. The next
morning, I met my guide who escorted me to the adoption center to meet our son.
Of the three times I have now been to China for an adoption,
this transition has by far been the smoothest. One of the biggest fears with
adopting is attachment. Kids that are raised in an institutional setting have
significant risk for attachment disorder. It is an inability to bond. It can
look very different, but the root is still the same. You may have a kid that
literally shows zero affection, or a kid that indiscriminately gives everyone
their affection. The problem of indiscriminate affection with everyone is that
they might not connect with the primary caregiver any more than the average Joe
on the street. Both are not good. So as I am driving to the adoption center, I
am praying in my mind, “Lord, help him to accept me today. I pray he will not
reject me. But Lord, don’t let him accept me too fast, either. Can you make it
a nice balance, Lord, of both willingness and caution???”
And it was. He has cried a few times, as he should. But he
does allow me to comfort him and I am able to distract him. He slept next to me
for 11 hours last night. He eats anything I put in front of him. He loves bath time.
And when we walk, he grasps my finger and looks up at me every once in awhile. He is very intuitive. I put on my shoe and
before I could get the other one, he was bringing it to me! He has really enjoyed
seeing all his crazy siblings on Facetime. He has probably giggled the most
with Chloe during Facetime.
He does have a medical condition that most likely is the
reason he was abandoned. It is thalassemia major---and he will require monthly
blood transfusions. We will have a port
put in shortly after we get home to make the transfusions easier. I am thankful
for a pediatric hematologist in Chattanooga. He was just transfused, which is
great, because he is full of energy and we shouldn’t have any worry about
checking his levels until we are home!
I will blog more---but right now I have a little man who
wants his momma’s attention.
Much Love In Christ,
Natalie
