The Gift Inside: Update on Aaron

Do you remember when you were young and you would see your Christmas presents all piled up underneath the Christmas tree? The mystery and suspense was almost more than you could stand! What was inside? Finally you might pull one out and shake it a little in hopes of learning a clue. 

Well if your parents wrapped gifts like my dad you weren't about to find a hint! One year I opened a very heavy box full of nuts and bolts, only to be presented with a beanbag chair! 

As I think about my little brother, whose only been home with us now for around 5 months I'm reminded of the gifts that are sitting under our tree. 

When you adopt a child you don't really know whose inside. All wrapped up in what others have said about them, and their own personal fears, you can't really see what's there. 

The first few weeks my brother was home, he tried to do everything right. Follow all the rules. A few weeks later he seemed to be doing the complete opposite! Is he compliant? Or defiant? Sometimes when he was corrected for his wrong doing he would fall into a crying pile, while other times he would show little remorse and be right back into trouble a few minutes later. Is he sensitive? Or hard headed? 

Still as the concealing layers fall away you learn more about whats really inside. A little boy. A little boy like any other little boy who has good days and not so good days. Whose hands can give generously and hold back selfishly, just like any of us.

I don't like to paint a rosy picture of adoption, but every time I sit down to share the truth and reality I find nothing but good to say! Perhaps its because I don't look at all that Aaron has yet to learn, I only see how far he has already come.

The joy, the life, and the love he has brought to our home cannot be tainted by the days he misbehaves. He is not rated for what he does, he is loved unconditionally for who he is.

So everyday is a new adventure, a new discovery for him and us, as the little boy who was once buried in fear and mistrust, begins to spring forth.