A young man in a very distant country has a birthday coming up very, very soon. 

How I wish we could just go pick him up and bring him home so he could celebrate it with his family.

Instead, I will be taking the boys shopping for gifts to be wrapped up and set aside for a belated birthday celebration when he does get here.  After all, one’s sixteenth birthday should not go uncelebrated under any circumstances. 

So, what do you buy a brother you have never even met?  Ah, my boys don’t have any trouble there.  They have a long, long list of things that they are certain “Duncan” should have.  After all, they have a lifetime of little treasures here.  Things like ballcaps and wallets, watches, legos, shiny rocks, fake arrowheads, soccer balls, magnets, favorite hoodies, cameras, flashlights, comic books, guitars, sketchbooks,… the list goes on.

Their brother deserves all these things and more and they are determined to be sure he has them.  (Mama may have to step in here or he will be completely spoiled rotten by his siblings!) 

It will be a happy day for us, because his birthday was our deadline.  And we made it.

It will be a day to be so thankful he is in a good facility, getting an education and some therapy, a day to pray for those who a caring for him, and for those who will miss him so much when he leaves there, a day for imagining life with him and looking forward to bringing him home.  I hope and pray it is a happy day for him as well.

If you happen to think of that certain boy who is turning 16 without his family, please pray for him.

(It won’t be long now!)