Christmas - An Adoption Story

It's amazing how much adopting a child changes everything about you. The way you think, act, speak. And for me it has radically changed my depth of understanding about the gospel. It truly is a story of adoption, one I didn't fully grasp until this past year.  The Bible refers to our salvation as adoption several times. Ephesians 1:5 says "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure", and Romans 8:15 says "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father," to name a few. 

There is no better word you could use for describing the gospel than "adopt". Before the actual adoption takes place there is a mountain of sacrifice involved, endless waiting, but it is all worth it. Why? Because it is an indescribable pleasure. I seriously can't explain it. Every sacrifice, every obstacle, every tear I shed was worth the cost of bringing Kiana into our family. As an adoptive parent I now get a small glimpse into what the love of the Father truly looks like. He sacrificed His own Son for me. He made the decision to adopt me and committed to that decision no matter the cost. 

Adoption is a beautiful thing, and when you view the gospel with an adoptive perspective it is truly a breathtaking concept to behold. Though on a much smaller (and imperfect) scale, I am so thankful that Kiana has the opportunity to see the love God has for her modeled through us. Despite every trial, expanding our family through adoption has brought inexplicable joy and filled our hearts with abounding love. What a wonderous thought to know that on our Father has even more joy and love for those He has adopted into His family! 

Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Kory, Crystal and Kiana Kawai

Rockin' and Rollin'

This week has been a tough week for both Kory and I, but it also was a week of victories! One of those "wins" for our family is that Kiana finally received her reverse walker on Thursday!

Kiana has diplegic spastic cerebral palsy. Diplegic because it affects only her legs and not her arms and spastic because her leg muscles are super tight (as opposed to be being too loose). We are so thankful for the entire medical team that we have treating Kiana. Her neurologist is amazing and has made it his goal to get Kiana independently mobile. Shriner's has given her a pair of AFO's (ankle foot orthodics) to help stablize ankles. While her upper legs are tight to the point where she can't fully straighten her legs, her ankles are extremely flimsy. And most of all we are so in love with her physical therapist. She fought so hard for us to get Kiana this amazing walker, complete with a seat!

Kiana has so much fun walking around the house with it. There is so much joy there! She is not quite yet a fan of it when she has to do it with her AFO's on though. While they help stablize her legs, they are heavy and force her to not drag her feet as much when she walks. So far she has only used it at physical therapy and around the house, but I am looking forward to when see has enough control of it that we can take it everywhere!

Kiana is already turning into a pro though after only a couple of days! She can maneuver it around objects and quickly picked up on how to put the seat up and down while still standing with the walker. She can get in and out of the walker all by herself too! Her strength overall has increased so much over the last 5 months and we can't wait to see what else is to come. Watch out world... Kiana is on the move!

Packin' on the Pounds

Four months ago we adopted our precious girl Kiana from China. After about 15 months of "process" we finally had our girl! However, our adventures in China weren't the end of our adoption adventure, but just the beginning! So, I am reinstating our adoption blog for a more in depth viewing of the realities of post-adoption life. Plus, there are so many different things that are happening as Kiana is growing and changing that I don't want to forget any of them!

One of the many pieces to the adoption process is adoption education courses. I am SO thankful for these! During our "training" we learned a lot about the importance of food in the lives of adopted kids. It provides a feeling of control for kids who otherwise have absolutely no control on their life whatsoever. This could look like kids refusing to eat, overeating, and hoarding food. We were taught that it's okay to let them overeat, even if they get sick. There is a place of trust that they need to arrive at, one part being that they will from now on have enough food in their bellies. 

The first few days in China Kiana was pretty much a bottomless pit. At meal time she would eat and eat and eat. Finally, on the third day as we were having dinner we finally saw her slow down and eventually take a sigh from being full. After we arrived back at Kona we gave her the bottom shelf of the fridge and the bottom shelf of the pantry so that she could get food whenever she wanted. While we try to limit her sugar intake, pretty much nothing else is off limits, like letting her put gobs of butter on her bread or rice.  

Have you ever seen the Lord of Ring movies? I'm sure if you haven't you have at least seen pictures of the infamous Gollum. In a nutshell, that was Kiana in the beginning. When she laid down on her back her stomach would concave WAY in compared to her chest. I could fit my hands all the way around her waist and have my fingertips touch. 

In the last couple months she has FINALLY begun to fill out a bit and put on a little weight. (About 2 pounds so far which is a lot for someone so small!) Just a couple days ago I was sitting on a bar stool with Kiana on my lap and my hands on her waist. And what do you know... my fingertips couldn't touch anymore! It is so exciting to see her growing and changing so much and so fast. Most of the time we don't even realize it as we live our day to day, until we have moments where we reflect back to the beginning and remember "oh yeah, she used to do that!" or "hey, life's not like that any more!" I'm thankful for this tangible moments that remind of how far we have come!