Brother Wanted

About two years ago, I started daydreaming about how cool it would be to have a brother.  A month later, I was still thinking about it a lot and even had a dream about it.  In my dream, a dark kid was sitting with us around our Christmas tree opening presents.  I wasn’t sure what to think, so I talked to my parents. I could have predicted what they were going to say. They told me, “ask God about it. If you spend time reading your Bible and praying, you will know.”  So I did that and it became even clearer.  I went back and told them my results.  Again they said, “ask God about it.”  It just so happened that we had already decided to take a mission trip to Taiwan that year.  So after I asked God about it again, we went to a meeting for the Taiwan group.  After the meeting, I went to talk to the pastor about adopting since talking to my parents wasn’t going anywhere.  All he had to say was “maybe you are going to adopt when you are an adult.”  I didn’t think so, so I went back to praying.  By now it was the beginning of July. 
One morning my parents made breakfast for us.  After prayer they asked us what we thought of adopting.  After a while of talking they told us that a good friend, who was in the Taiwan group, had e-mailed us that there was a 6-year-old boy in Taiwan that needed a home.  When I heard that I felt that God was yelling “here’s you answer!”  I knew that we would be bringing him home.  My parent still did not believe me.  Since the trip was only 2 weeks away, my dad said that we could think about it and see the boy.  Fast forward 2 weeks and I got off my first airplane ride.  We went straight to the orphanage where the little boy Guan Guan lived.  I loved him at first sight. He and the other orphans got me involved in a mixed-up game of keep away and tag. It was such a fun experience.  Over the course of the trip I went to a swimming pool, night market, park and beach.  At the beach Guan Guan’s aunt came and talked with my dad about adopting him.  After a while, my dad came into the water and told me we were going to start the adoption process.  I was so excited that I fell underwater.  Every time after I saw him I thought, “he is going to be my little brother.”  Once I got home my family started getting things ready.  I will be honest - the whole adoption process was stressful and hard.  I had a very hard time giving up my own bedroom.  I couldn’t find someone to talk to about the process of adopting, so I had no idea what to expect.  A social worker came to our house and talked to me about what I thought about having a brother. Although it seemed like forever, our adoption was only 4 months long and that is actually very fast.  About 4 or 5 days before Christmas my family was in our kitchen making breakfast and my mom all called us to come to the table. We all gathered around her as she read the e-mail that Guan Guan was ready for my parents to come and get him.  I was so overjoyed! I felt like screaming and crying and jumping for joy all at once. 


The day I met my brother in Taiwan

The day after Christmas my sisters and I were dropped off at Grandma’s house.  My mom and dad flew to Taiwan to complete their paperwork and spend a couple of days getting to know Guan Guan.  They were gone for almost 2 weeks.  Those were probably the most impatient weeks I ever had.  Finally, on January 10, friends of ours came to take us to the airport to meet our brother. I ran down the airport halls at 11:00 pm trying to find the gate that my parents were at. I practically attacked them when I found them!  We brought Guan Guan home and showed him his room, but it didn’t feel real that he was with us.   I will never forget the first 2 months or so we would have to stay in his room for a while every night and my mom couldn’t leave Guan Guan because he was afraid that we would not come back.  It just broke my heart that he would feel that way.  I was happy when he learned enough English that we could tell him that we love him and that we would never leave him.  As hard as it has been getting used to having a brother and working through his past, it is all worth it in my heart to know that know he doesn’t have to worry about any of that now.