Today is our son's birthday. Well, the birth date assigned to him, anyway.
You see, our son was found on a busy street corner. It was estimated that he was approximately six weeks old, and so the orphanage doctors and appropriate Chinese officials chose a birth date for him. It's the only one we, or he, will ever know - in this life, that is.
On this day, our family celebrates all the wonderfulness that is Ethan Warren Jian-Min Hawk. He is active, smart, handsome, strong-willed, giving and has begun to develop his own unique sense of humor.
But also on this day, I think of his birth parent(s).
I wonder if they wonder about him. I wonder if one or both of them hung around near that street corner until they saw someone come to their little son's aid. And did they then hang their head in sadness and turn and walk away, knowing that he would be better cared for in the orphanage than they could have done for him at home?
I wonder if they remember him on his birthday - his real birthday, whenever that may be. If they wish they knew where he was now. If they wonder what's he's like now and what he's doing. I'm sure they hope that he has found a wonderful forever home where he can grow and flourish and become a man.
But they don't know. They will never know - again, not in this life, that is. When they walked away from their little boy on that street corner, they had no idea even which orphanage he would be taken to eventually. They don't know that he had the love of wonderful foster parents for most of his time in China. They don't know that he has now come to the States and his forever family and that he can hear and is learning to talk and sing...
They don't know that he loves music and crayons and green beans and books. They don't know that he loves Tiny Tumblers and Story Time and his friends at church and both of his Grandpa's and Grandma's.
It makes me cry to think of them, where ever they may be in China, sitting and possibly remembering the day their precious little son was born. I pray for them and hope that, one day, they will be comforted to know that their son had the love of a forever family who cared for him through the years.
So, on this day, Happy 3rd Birthday to our precious little blessing of a son! Our lives forever changed when you came into them, and we are so thankful to have you as part of our family forever.