Kenny LaJoy is Fourteen Today!!!

We have another 14 year old!  Officially we are back to two sets of twins until April.  Kenny's birthday is today, and I can't help but stop and think for a moment about just how far this young man has come.

Oh my...and you all have taken the journey right along with us, through the ups and the downs, the frustrations and the sorrows, the joys and the cheers.  This blog was started to share Kenny's adoption process, I never thought that 5 years later I'd still be blogging.  I am so glad I am, because the world needs to know that the Kenny's matter, that they can triumph over terrible circumstances, that their lives have great meaning, and that they bring untold joy to their families.

As his friend Amir still waits, thanks once again to yet another tale of corruption in a country that can barely feed their own, Kenny celebrates his birthday in the circle of love that surrounds him three layers deep.  I received an email to pass on to Kenny from his two other blessed orphanage mates, Askar and Turat, now residing with their loving parents in Australia, it is hard not to think of Amir today.  Still alone, still waiting for the family who has committed to him and desperately wants him home.  May it be so soon.

Kenny is such an extraordinary person, who has overcome so much and has yet even more hurdles to leap over.  I have never met a more congenial, sweet natured, wholeheartedly affectionate child. When Kenny hugs you, he melts like sugar into you.  He doesn't know a stranger, and he is the epitome of "welcoming".  He has so many gifts to share with the world, and has been hindered by a brain that was damaged by who knows what...institutionalization, heredity, poor prenatal care, alcohol, drugs, malnutrition, lack of stimulation, you name it...its probably all in the mix.

And yet he thrives...how he thrives!!

He will succeed because he will keep working at it until he does.  He will succeed because we are all pulling for him, working hard with him, caring about him, and most importantly...accepting him and meeting him where he is at, even if that place is phonics for the third time.  He will succeed because he now has his Tribe, Team LaJoy...and his extended larger tribe, his church and other friends.  All of us do better when we are smack dab in the middle of our Tribe.

Kenny, you are my heart and soul, you are a blessing in a million ways.  Thank you for deep conversations, for head banging moments, for laughing your way through and showing me how to. May your 14th year bring you continued growth (both in size and mind!), more encounters with the Spirit as you let it guide and direct your path, and may your 14th year bring surprise successes from unexpected places.

I love you, Dearest Child of my Heart. Wish I was there to hug you today.  What a privilege to have you call me "mom".