Introducing...Mr. No No

Who is this guy, anyways?

I realize that many of you may know me, Kim or the girls - they've been around for a while. Noah is fairly new on the scene in terms of being a part of our family and it seems appropriate to give him a little bit of an introduction and to fill you all in on some of his story here.

When Kim and I moved back to Ontario in 2015, we began working towards adopting a child. Though a long process, the placement happened quickly and unexpectedly and Noah came to us in July of 2019. He had been in foster care since he was born and had spent the biggest part of his life with an amazing foster family who were a part of our community, though we did not know them well at the time. He came to us deeply loved and cared for.

We first heard about the opportunity to adopt Noah about a month earlier in June and two very memorable events happened to pass later on that night.

1. The Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship.

2. We were unceremoniously summoned from our beds in the wee hours of the morning to assist a group of young adults who had crashed their slow moving vehicle into a nearby tree...substances were very likely involved and the only one who stuck around for the ambulance was the person with the dislocated shoulder after her unvaliant partner absconded for unstated and suspicious reasons.

Not that there are any connections between these two events and Noah's forthcoming arrival but they seem significant in terms of what they represent.

Celebration and Chaos

But who is Noah? That is difficult to say. It is probably easier to tell you what Noah does.

He does move. He cruises around on his strider bike with an uninhibited recklessness and he has never met a hill that was too steep or fast for him to fly down.

He does like things that go. Nothing gets Noah more excited than catching the firetruck as it wails down the street. Nothing gets Noah more upset than missing the firetruck as it speeds past our house. The same goes for the garbage truck.

He does boss people around. If there is a ball to be played with, he will kick it, throw it or shoot it with a hockey stick but he needs to tell you when it is your turn (some of the time) and when it is his turn (most of the time).

He does dance. Believe it or not, Noah really likes to dance. Scratch that. He loves to dance. When there are good beats pumping, Noah becomes possessed with a spirit of movement that defies any sense of decorum and turns him into an absolute wild man. Squeals of delight are just as likely to accompany these frenzies as screams of exasperation. And he's got the fastest "hot feet" you'll ever see.

He does nature. Rarely does Noah ever ask to come in out of the great outdoors. He is deeply connected to creation and would rather be in the open air surrounded by trees, creatures, waters and space. He loves to swim, camp and hike. He wants to roam freely and then explore deeply and always has the time to marvel and "ohhhhh!" at beautiful things like birds, pines, snow and the moon. Adventures bring him deep joy.

He does laugh and joke. Noah has a laugh that comes from deep in his belly and that floats lightly through the air whenever something is silly or goes "bonk!"

He does love a party. I have never seen Noah become overwhelmed by a crowd because he loves to be around people. Though he might sham coyness, he is quick to grab a hand or to give an order when he sees that someone needs to be doing something with him and the rest of the group. There are never too many people involved.

Noah does make us a Family. Because Noah is a boy whose presence demands attention he can come across as being a bit bossy at times. As noted earlier, this is because he can be really bossy. The most beautiful and wonderful parts about Noah, however, come out in his bossy ways as he rallies the girls to his causes and how he forces his parents to break out of the demands of their days. In our home, togetherness is enforced and reinforced by Noah's being and this being has woven Noah intimately into the fabric of our family, so much so that the pattern of that fabric would not make sense without his beautiful strands.

Knit Together

And this is where I think that the events of that June night shed a bit of light on the beauty of Noah's life so far. His journey to our family was not the clear and smooth one and his arrival really blew up a cushy and kind of boring little family life we had settled into with the girls. And then we tried to take him camping less than a month later. Chaos.

But oh - Praise the Lord! - did he get the party started! Time drew us all closer together and Noah, more and more, became ours just as much as we became his. I never hear the girls laugh with (and sometimes at) anyone else the way they do with Noah. I never get to be as crazy with anyone as I do with Noah. And I never see Kim sigh with love and joy the way she does when Noah leans closely and peacefully into her loving arms. Celebration.

Just as God knew, loved and planned the joys and sorrows of Noah's life before that life began, he continues to weave those joys and sorrow together.

Noah now has cancer. He is the greatest blessing our family has ever received.