HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROWAN!

Tomorrow, June 30, is Rowan's first birthday! We aren't going to do much. Since it's Luca's birthday July 2 we are having the four girls from next door over for lunch so we'll celebrate both their birthday's together. Adrian is out of town and that really puts a damper on the whole thing. I got him a Thomas the Tank Engine musical caboose, a shape sorter, and a toy piano. I think the girls will be more excited than Rowan. I'll put a candle in a banana (his favorite food) and take a picture.
I feel very blessed to have this little miracle in my life. He truly is a miracle. As I think of where he came from and how he came to us I can't help but think of all the other possibilities. He could have so easily died. The various scenarios keep running through my mind. What if his mom abandoned him and no one found him? What if the Kebele took him to a different orphanage, one who wouldn't have cared for him like Hope did? He was malnourished when we got him and I know Hope did the best they could. What if his mom kept him? That is the scariest scenario to me. Knowing his physical limitations and the health problems he's had, if he was still in Ethiopia he would probably be the equivalent of a sixth-month-old not a 12-month-old. Even now, Rowan's physical therapist says he is like an eight-month-old. He's had to overcome RSV, tracheamalacia (still working on that one), and low tone (definitely still working on that one.) Of course, I have to remember that he also has had or will have to overcome being abandoned, leaving the only home and people he knew, losing his culture and his language, never knowing his history and coming to a cold land where he will certainly be judged by his skin color sometime (probably many times) in his life. He doesn't know it yet, but he's black and we all here are white. Of course, I also have to remember that he has also gained a family: three crazy sisters who absolutely adore him, a father who I've never seen so proud (o.k. maybe three other times) and me, a mom who pours out her heart to God everyday for this child who I would lay down my life for. People who haven't adopted always say how blessed the adopted child is to have a family. They mean well, but those of us who have adopted know the real truth. It's the other way around. We are the ones who are blessed!
I love Rowan so much and I thank God for him. On this, the eve of his first birthday, I must also thank God for his mother. (I actually thank God for her all the time. How could I not? Look what she gave me.) How I wish I could meet her, tell her thank you, show her her beautiful son, ask her why. I pray she is still alive, that she knows God, and that God will heap tons of blessings upon her. I also pray that maybe, just maybe some day we might find her. So as you think about Rowan over the next few days please remember his mother too and all she did for him and how her great sacrifice gave so much to us.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROWAN MICHAEL KIDUS SPRACKLEN!