Mom and Dad,
As we prepare to bring home my brother and your son from China in just a few short weeks, I want to reflect on what you both mean to me. When we were still in the process of applying for adoption, you needed me to write a reference letter for you. It seemed like such a strange formality to write that “these two individuals are fit to be the legal guardians of Fang Tou.” I felt like I could have written a whole book filled with stories from my childhood, and each anecdote would have been more than enough “evidence” of your competence and success in parenting. I had no doubt that not only would you be able to “rescue” him and give him the necessities for survival, but that you would be welcoming him into a home where he would truly belong to a family.
I found some old photos that I feel depict the love that I’ve felt from both of you all throughout my childhood. What is not included in this post are thousands of other images, notes, and even moments that weren’t captured on camera or paper that I will remember forever. But, I hope that through these pictures and with my words I can tell you just how much I love you.
What I notice about the following few pictures is how you’re looking at me so lovingly…
The unconditional love that you have always shown me has helped me to understand the love that Jesus has for me. It amazes me that even though I had done nothing to earn your love, especially at such a young age, you have given it to me so freely. This is another reason that I know you will be such great parents to Fang Tou. It’s only human to feel sympathy for him, because he was born blind and abandoned by his birth parents, but you didn’t stop there. He has done nothing to earn your love but because of the prompting of the Holy Spirit, you have allowed yourselves to cross from sympathy and distant sponsorship to making him a Harris where I know he will experience the love of God because it could not be any more evident than through the lives of his new mom and dad.
I am so blessed that I never had to doubt that you two were in my corner and on my side. Looking back, I know that raising me was not easy at all. You had to discipline me, of course, and watch me make so many mistakes. You celebrated each one of my victories and helped me to learn from my defeat as if each experience were your own. You were and still are my favorite people to do something with and to do nothing with. In the coming months, you’ll be teaching a teenager a foreign language, helping him acclimate to a new country, and teaching him how to be a part of a family. If I could, I would tell Fang Tou right now that through all of the challenges ahead of him, he has two cheerleaders and friends that will push him when needed, but will also be there to catch him when he falls. I pray he will see the image that his parents are of Jesus in this way.
