Thursday, August 23, 2012

Sharing his heart

Last night I was sitting outside on our little loveseat.  It was a beautiful summer night with a light breeze blowing.  Andrew came home from riding his bike and sat down next to me.  We spent the next three hours talking and doing iTranslate. We laughed, we cried and he shared his heart with a little prompting from the mom. And I did a lot of listening.

I know this young boy has a lot of hurts burried down underneath all the smiles. We talked about how he likes to be funny and he loves humor. We talked about how he covers up those hurts with the humor and how the Lord wants to heal him of his hurts.

We talked about his family.  The great grandmother who raised him until she died when he was 10. We talked about his birth mother, her drinking and being unkind to him.  He talked about going to the orphanage when he was only 11 and how the bigger boys would beat him.  He told me his great grandmother loved God and would tell him Bible stories. He told me there was no love at the orphanage.

Yes, we did cry.  It's good to get those hurts out so you can be healed. If you keep a wound covered up it can't heal.  When you uncover it, it starts healing.  That's what Andrew is learning. It's little by little. There's so much more in him and it will take time for it to all come out.  But now he knows this mama is here to stay and she loves him to the moon and back.

After our three hours, Andrew came in the house and told Madison, "Three hours talk to mother. Pour out heart. Very good."  He doesn't call me mom.  He calls me Ms. Hansina. I've known it will take him time to call me mom.  He will only do it when he's ready and he means it. After our talk he knocked on my bedroom door and said, "Mom, I need towel."  He called me MOM!  My heart melted!  In the morning it was "mom, mom, mom!!!" I asked him if he was okay calling me mom.  He said, "Yes! You my mom." There are no words to tell you all how much Mark and I love this boy.

This reminds me so much of the love of our Father.  How He wants us to tell him our hurts so He can heal us.  He loves us unconditionally. He is there to correct us and point us back in the right direction. He adopted us first. How great is the love of our God!  Lord, thank you for healing my own hurts.  Thank you for giving me wisodm on how to talk and listen to Andrew. Thank you for your love so that I am able to love others. Thank you most of all for my sweet son, Andrew.



31 comments:

  1. Wow! Just amazing! Tears of joy! Wow!

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  2. Precious boy! You stepped out in faith and obedience to God and look what you have done! You have given this boy a family...and a Mama that he can call his own. And now he is calling you his own.

    God Bless,
    ~Jenni
    http://www.gatheringhisblessings.blogspot.com

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  3. That is such a heart-warming story! I thank God he sent you two to rescue Andrew.

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  4. Thank you for sharing this. It brought tears to my eyes. You are a wonderful mother.
    ---Janet

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  6. Aw, this made me cry! So happy this boy has the loving family he deserves, and that he is beginning to feel secure!

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  7. This brought tears to my eyes. What an amazing young man that God purposely made to be in your family.

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  8. *sob* Truly tears of ***JOY*** over here! God is so good and I am so very excited for your family. He has amazing things planned for Andrew and you have the great honor and blessing of seeing this young man bloom! What a precious gift, indeed!

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  9. I just read your post and it bought tears to my eyes, i wih all much Love and many Blessings.When I first heard about your family adopting Andrew I wondered how he felt about leaving all contact with whatever family he did have and I was concerned about the name change.I am so glad though that things are falling into place. God Bless all of you.I wish you all the very best.

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  10. Oh Hasina,
    I am a weeping mess right now. Thank you Father for the sweet answered prayers for this boy and this family. What a great day!

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  11. Hansina,
    It is amazing how God uses us in such a mighty way. You have always been a good listener and that is what Andrew needed. It blesses my heart to hear that he trusted you enough to call you "mom".
    Love You!

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  12. Miraculous and beautiful. I'm so happy for you! Praise the Lord!

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  13. So beautiful! God is so good. Thanks for sharing this.

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  14. Every time I see his face smiling, I smile. God is so good to us all!

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  15. Overjoyed that he called you Mom! =)

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  16. Ohhhh... I'm cryin... what a special special time...

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  17. Thank you for sharing your sweet stories throughout your journey. Your family and the love you all have is truly an inspiration.

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  18. Oh, boy...here I go again! sniff sniff This is so true of everyone!

    Hugs,
    Rochelle

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  19. Wow I'm in tears...no doubt God was watching over Andrew all this time and answered his prayers or his great grandmas and God led you to him! What a beautiful story although an incredibly sad beginning...thank you for sharing...I can't wait till Andrew can speak English fluently and tell you more about his life! God bless always.

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  20. Oh that is so wonderful! Sweet boy--I am so glad he is able to feel safe and loved and not alone! A family is a wonderful thing for any child--but a family who will also point him to our Lord? Even better!! I pray he heals and so thankful you are his
    Mom! :)

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  21. Jocelyn Gunter has left a new comment on your post "Sharing his heart":

    Oh, melts my heart! So amazing how God is! Love it! I actually got to meet Andrew. I saw him walking at Harvest one day, can't remember when. I recognized him and said "Andrew?" He said Yes and I said Hi, nice to meet you! He was very polite! :)

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  22. Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Sharing his heart":

    This story just gets more and more amazing to me. God bless you for allowing the world to hear it. His great-grandmother is no doubt smiling down from heaven to know her precious boy is loved!

    Judee in Iowa

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  23. Reading what poor Andrew endured in the orphanage just broke my heart.I can't imagine him being there, feeling so abandoned and alone as a child, likely crying himself to sleep every night.It just made me cry. I am so glad to see he now has a happy ending and the love of a family!

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  24. Love your latest update, "MOM"!! One part that jumped out to me was how the Great-grandmother was likely a believer and would have known she wouldn't always be there to finish raising Andrew. And the prayers she likely prayed for someone to raise and love Andrew back then, were indeed answered this year through you and Mark. What an encouragement to all of us believers. God hears our prayers and answers them in His time. He is faithful!

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  25. After court. 11 months ago when we adopted our 18 year old daughter, we had our facilitator tell her that we are her mom and dad---we will love her, care for her and protect her. She was relieved that we were okay and wanted her to call us mom and dad. So glad he has reached this milestone in your relationship. You guys are doing a great job with him:).

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  26. Beautiful! Praying for his heart to continue to heal! Well done MOM!

    Joy

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  27. You may not know us but as I read your blog and especially this post I just cry! I remember when our newly adopted Russian teen son called me mom! I remember God speaking to me on how to listen and respond! I never knew I could love a child like this! He is our first and oh what love! Oh I just love seeing that faithfullness in Christ! Thank you for sharing!

    marcosandjamie@blogspot.com

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  28. Thank you for sharing about Andrew's journey. To God be the glory! Made me cry and smile. So many others need families too. Praying for the many who wait.

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  29. Oh, how his great-grandmother must be rejoicing right now! To know her boy is being loved and learning to love must make heaven even more heavenly for her. I pray his love of family and of God continues to grow.

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