Unexpected Guest...Entertaining Angels?

The reference in my title is to a passage in The Book that says we should always show hospitality in our homes and that some of us have entertained angels unaware. We're pretty sure we entertained an angel last night.

We have been blessed to remain in contact with Potato's foster family since we adopted her in 2006. We knew then that they were incredible people. Their hearts were broken...no worse yet...they were completely dismayed when we finally traveled to bring Potato home. They of course knew when 2 years and 4 months before they were asked by the orphanage to take this precious girl home and to care for her "until she could be adopted"...they knew that she could never be "theirs" forever due to regulations and the fact that they already had two grown children. But they took her in and devoted themselves to her. I can assuredly say that Potato suffered no set backs while waiting for us...her first family gave her a full, happy start.

They have come to our home; NiNi and YehYeh, as Potato calls them. They had the wisdom and heart to be called "Grandma & Grandpa" instead of Momma and Daddy so that her forever family (us) would have the joy of being her one and only Momma and Daddy. They often call on her special days...her birthday, her adoption day (which for them marks the end of their daily contact with our girl a celebration for us and a day of painful loss for them), the major holidays here...but yesterday we had a call from our "Chinese Family" (dear friends who live near us Here, with whom we've had a close relationship for several years...he often acts as our translator for communication between the foster family and our family. He had just heard from YehYeh, and YehYeh was in our city (normally they live about 1.5 hours away. Could they come over for dinner? I answered "YES, OF COURSE! YehYeh is always welcome."

Potato's NiNi was still in their hometown to care for a foster child in their home now...but YehYeh had come to our city for some advanced training in his field. Though I think it must be highly uncommon, this man went out of his way to see Potato...he wanted to visit us and check up on her.

When I asked Potato after school yesterday, "Guess who's coming to dinner tonight?" She excitedly asked "My NiNi and YehYeh?!" (I was amazed that this was her first guess...and it revealed the importance of this first family in her thoughts! We often talk about them and retell the parts of her story that we know from them.)

He came at about 6:30 PM with our "Chinese family"...and Potato bounded into his arms for a big hug. Once again, as has always been the case when he sees her, there were tears in his eyes. We ate dinner and Potato thrilled him with her ability to chatter on and on to him in Chinese. Mid-dinner he asked her if she'd like to call her NiNi who had stayed home to care for the baby...and Potato said, "Yes!" After she'd eaten, she grasped the phone in her warm little hands and called her NiNi. Not only did she express the pleasantries in Chinese...she communicated to NiNi asking..."Is your home still clean? I'm going to come visit you soon!" And we will visit, we've made plans for another trip to her hometown this Spring during the Tomb Sweeping holiday (a traditional festival where locals return to their families tombs to attend to them as well as remember their ancestors.)

After dinner Potato brought him games to play, translated a few of her favorite story books for him into Chinese and laughed with abandon. When she finally had to go to bed she got up, turned and hugged him fiercely then stopped mid-way to her room and said "Wo ai ni, YehYeh!" (meaning, I love you grandpa!) and he responded to her "Wo ai ni!" Our dear friend who was here quickly said to us, with astonishment on his face..."Oh, how amazing for a local man to say that...it is very hard for a man to say such things here!"

Before he left I told him that I thought of him as a most honorable man. That we will forever be amazed that, while it would have been easier for him to hold his heart back from this foster child who he knew wouldn't be "his" forever, that he loved her with abandon. We thanked him again and asked him to thank NiNi too for their selfless love and dedication to our Potato with the knowledge that they would someday send her off on a bus...in her little green party dress...with one squeaky shoe...and a bag full of her favorite treats...to us.

No, I am quite sure that this time we KNEW we were entertaining an angel.





See for yourself...a happy, deeply loved girl...adored by both her families.