Arisson: Blessed Beyond All Measure

A little over three years ago, God put on our hearts to start the adoption process for a little girl in China. We can look back now and see how He was with us every step of the way, and that His plan for The Lodwig Family was far greater than anything we could have imagined. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that this is actually our story. Jason and I already had four children, three boys and one girl, when God made it obvious to us that our family was not quite complete and we were to adopt a daughter from China. From the moment that we made the decision, our little girl was covered in our daily prayers as we waited to bring her home.

After attending an information meeting on China Adoption at Sunny Ridge, Jason and I knew that not only was this the path we were to take, but that Sunny Ridge was also the agency we were to use. Bob McNeill ran the information meeting, and his love and passion for the orphans was evident in his presentation. We were excited about our new daughter, and excited that God was allowing us this experience. We immediately began the paperwork process. We were introduced to our social worker, Jessica. We really developed a great relationship with Jessica and we were very thankful for her. She was able to help us get our home study and paperwork completed in about five months. Our dossier was mailed off with five other families. Over the course of the waiting period we got to know our travel group; Sunny Ridge had pre-travel meetings that we attended, and we were able to communicate through emails. Our group immediately hit it off. We looked forward to having our adoption story overlap with theirs and share the experience together.

Almost immediately after our dossier group was logged in to China’s system, the waiting period for adoptive families began to increase. Even though every month that passed brought us closer to our daughter, at the same time it felt like we were getting further away. With four children here at home, we had no choice but to keep moving forward. It was up to us as parents to keep the excitement that we felt at the beginning of the process alive until we brought our little girl home. Aside from our daily living, we made the most of our wait by educating ourselves about China and adoption. We read books and tried to learn Mandarin. We visited Chinatown. We put together a “One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt.” We also participated in Sunny Ridge’s Chinese New Year festivities. I also volunteered my help a couple of years. This proved to be a blessing to me. I got to see first hand some of the families that God had already put together through adoption. I was encouraged by how perfectly made each of the families were. This renewed my faith that God was going to bring us a little girl that would be a perfect fit for our family as well. During the wait, we also had home visits from Jessica. This also renewed our excitement because it reminded us that we were really still in this process, even though sometimes it didn’t feel like it. She would always encourage us and keep our spirits up.

The wait was hard but God always gave us the peace that He was in control, and that we just needed to trust in Him. In February of 2008, about 26 months after being logged in, we finally received our referral, and we learned that Jiang Cheng Er was waiting for us. Her picture showed a very beautiful, chunky, yet serious girl, with a little strawberry mark on her nose. Finally, we could put a face to our prayers. We were always in love with our daughter, but now we could see who it was we were in love with. We loved knowing that we were praying for her about two years before she was even born. We were so excited that we were finally going to get our daughter. Her first name was going to be changed to Arisson, which is the name we came up with by putting parts of all our names together (Kris, Jason, Austin, Aislinn, Aidan, and Aaron). The days that followed were filled with finalizing details, packing, and making arrangements for our children, who were staying home while Jason and I traveled. We met with our travel group to go over our trip details. The days flew and it wasn’t long before we were at the airport ready to board our plane to China. When we got to the airport, we met two more families that were adopting Special Needs, who would be traveling with us. These new families fit in perfectly to our already wonderful group.

From the time we started the process, our trip to China was something we always looked forward to. We saw it as an opportunity to see the birth country of our daughter and to be able to experience her culture first hand. We were told a few times by Jessica that it isn’t to be viewed as a vacation. For us, this is the only incorrect information that our social worker gave us. From the moment we stepped on that plane in Chicago to the time we returned to the States, this was by far the greatest trip we had ever experienced. When we landed in Beijing, the five days prior to getting Arisson was like a honeymoon for Jason and me. We got to see sites that we had heard and read about. We were eating wonderful food. We got to stay at a very nice hotel. I was like a sponge, trying to absorb and remember everything around me. Some of the best times were just interacting with Bob, Bill, and our travel group. We just got along so beautifully, and we were so thankful that God put this group together.

Our families would separate in two for placement. Two families were headed to Gansu; the other six of us were headed to Guangzhou. Placement day was very exciting and emotional day for all of us. This was the moment that all of us had waited a very long time for. The moments leading up to receiving Arisson in my arms was filled with tears, and worries of the unknown. I was also excited for the other families that were uniting with their daughters. As much as I tried to keep my mind focused and remember everything about that day, it all happened so fast and a lot of it still remains a blur. Arisson was brought to us, and at first Jason and I both were about to say that this wasn’t her. She was so tiny, much smaller than she had appeared in her pictures. Then we both spotted her little strawberry on her nose, and knew that this was Arisson. We cried. She cried. Parents and babies around us were crying.  It was funny how our group quickly went from one big group to dividing up into our new family units as we immediately started to learn to parent our new daughters.

Arisson was very upset about her little world suddenly becoming so unfamiliar. She cried, and finally went to sleep, probably trying to escape reality. When we got her back to the room, she didn’t want to eat. She didn’t want to be touched. She didn’t want to be talked to. She would rock back and forth, holding the heel of her hand to her mouth to comfort her. Her caregiver even said that she does this to comfort herself. The first morning that she woke up in our room she kind of had this look on her face, like “oh no, they are still here.” But as each day passed she would trust us more and she would reveal more of personality to us. In a matter of days, the rocking back and forth and the hand to mouth gesture stopped. That was a big victory for us. (The rocking back and forth did return when we were attempting the “Red Couch” picture, but that was kind of stressful for all of us!) Now that Arisson was with us, the “honeymoon” was over, and from here it became more like a family vacation. For Jason and I, this was still truly heaven. We were responsible for only one child as opposed to four. Piece of Cake! We visited Arisson’s Welfare Institute, the China Sea, the zoo, and many other ventures before it was time to pack up and come home. This part of our journey ended quickly. We were really sad about leaving China because we really fell in love with the country. We were sad about being apart from our amazing group, because they are our family now. But we were ready for the next part of the journey to start, and to introduce Arisson to a whole new world.

We have been home three months now with Arisson. She has gone from a quiet, reserved little girl to a complete ham like the rest of her siblings. When people see her they always comment on how happy she is. Arisson’s crib is in our room. When she stands up we can only see her from the eyes up, so every morning we wake to see this fuzzy hair and brown eyes looking at us. We can tell that she is smiling. She just melts our hearts. I knew our daughter Aislinn was going to love her new sister, but I was really surprised how the boys have taken to her. They are completely nuts about her. I love to watch all the kids interact with each other. They all celebrate each milestone that Arisson reaches, and laugh at her silliness. They worry when she cries. They fight over who gets to pick out her outfit, or feed her a bottle. Their love for each other just gives us validation that this was God’s plan for us.  I don’t know if you can possibly love someone too much, but we are going to try.
 
When God put us on the path to adoption, we knew the life of a child was going to be changed forever just by coming to America to join our family. What we didn’t know is how much joy, love and laughter that one child would bring to our family. Love didn’t just increase by one person, it increased exponentially. This sweet little girl that God placed in our family is so perfect for us, and she was definitely worth the wait. We are so thankful to have Arisson in our lives. She makes our family complete and more blessed beyond all measure. We are honored that God would choose the Lodwig family to be a part of His plan for Arisson’s life.