Sick babies and toy stores!

FYI, I just typed a magnificant, multi paragraphed blog entry, and lost it when I tried to publish.  I will try my best to duplicate but if my literary ability is lacking, you know why.

Today was alot like the other day.  We started moving around about 7:30 and headed to the orphanage about 9:30 to make out 10:00 meeting with Jonah.  He wasn't feeling very well during our first visit.  When they brought him to us he could barely hold his eyes open.  He has been sick all week and they had just given him some medicine that wiped him out.  He was a trooper and played as long as he could, but he eventually ended up asleep on Leah's chest.  He slept for about 1:30 of our 2 hours visit, but that was ok.  As a matter of fact, it was one of the sweetest visits we have had with him.  The second visit, he was much more active.  He played with toys, walked and crawled, laughed...he was just all around fun.  We have been noticing he is very musical.  They told us that on our first visit earlier in the week, but we have been noticing it lately.  He likes any kinds of toys that make music.  He loves tamborine toys, toys that sing songs that he can dance to, little mexican shaker toys.  Anything that can make a beat he loves.  So today, after we visited him, we headed over to a toy store near our hotel and bought him a toy piano for his birthday.  They orphanage workers asked us earlier today if we knew that Monday was his birthday.  We told them yes and asked if we could bring gifts.  We are also going to bring a cake, but they said he couldn't eat it, but they would be glad to! 
     Leah and I were talking about his birthday and it led to a converstion about his birth mother.  Monday is not only a celebration of his birth, but also a day to thank God that he led his birth mother to make a sound decision.  You see, she could have done just about anything on that day.  She is a drug addict, they say she is probably a prostitute.  She could have had him and put him in a dumpster or left him somewhere to die.  She could have aborted the pregnancy before she had him, but she didn't.  She went to a hospital and had him.  She left less than two hours after he was born and left his birth certificate without a mother or father on it, but at least she did what she did.  Even then, a year ago, God was not only orchestrating Jonah's safe arrival in baby orphanage #4, but he was orchestrating our decision to adopt.  It wasn't until January that we made the decision, but our hearts were already beginning to turn.  Before we deciced to adopt, before we chose Russia, God had already chosen Jonah for us.  It's beautiful.  We will thank him every day for the rest of our lives.  We don't deserve this kind of favor.  We are filthy sinners who have no claim to the riches of God, but through the cross all those things are reconciled.  Through the cross we are given purpose and made whole.  It is because of the cross that we live, and we will teach that to Jonah. It's clear how much God loves him, his story is already amazing and he is not even 1 yet!  Until tomorrow....