A Dream - An Untold Story

About 2 months before our travel to pickup Joshua, Laurie had a very vivid dream concerning Joshua. She recorded the dream in her journal, and we have seen it come true. We would like to share the dream with you...

The Dream

On February 5, 2008..... I (Laurie) had a very memorable dream. In the dream, there was a silver metal bridge shaped like a dragon that appeared to be coming down from the sky. The sky was colored in very vivid beautiful sapphire blues. Coming down the inside of the bridge was a dark haired young girl with shoulder length hair (like a nanny) who was holding the hand of a dark-haired little boy. She was leading him down the bridge from the sky to the ground. I was standing nearby the entrance of the bridge (which was the shape of the dragon's mouth). She walked him slowly down the bridge and he patiently came along side her. As I waited at the entrance for him, I looked around and marveled at the little colorful pink and blue shoes etched into the frame of the bridge. The bridge appeared to be covered with these little pink and blue shoes as if many little footsteps had come across this bridge. It felt like a little piece of heaven. I can't begin to describe the joy and delight I felt in my heart.

When I awoke from the dream, I felt in my heart that God had just confirmed that the little boy we were about to receive from China was a gift from His heart. Our little piece of heaven from China.

The Dream Realized

On March 30, 2008 we arrived in Chongqing where we were to meet our baby boy Joshua. Michael, our guide, met us at the airport. We loaded up our luggage and headed to downtown Chongqing to the Harbor Plaza Hotel. Upon arrival at our hotel, to my amazement, there was a bright red ballon hanging over the hotel entrance. There were two dragons crouching on the top of the ballon.

As we pulled up in Michael's car (silver Honda Civic) I gasped as I recalled the dream. Randy nodded and smiled as we retrieved our things from the car to go inside. Once inside, we saw him, our little Joshua. He sat on a small sofa waiting there patiently with two of his young dark-haired nannies with shoulder length hair to greet us. We were both overcome with emotion and awe. There are no words to adequately describe this moment except pure joy and delight. This was our gottcha day, our gottcha moment, our final confirmation of a dream come true.

Joshua being given to Laurie by the nannies (from Fuling orphanage) in the lobby of Harbor Plaza hotel on March 30, 2008.

The next day, I wanted to get a picture of this dragon balloon, but it had been taken down. Yesterday, we shared this dream with our guide Michael. We asked if he could help us find the identical dragon balloon so we could have a picture taken with Joshua. He was very touched by the dream and our request. He drove us around Chongqing until we found the balloons. He took our picture standing beneath the dragon balloons (see below). I asked Michael what the significance of the dragon was in China. He said the dragon is representative of the emperor in China. Michael then affectionately called Joshua "little dragon boy."

We do believe that God has chosen this little one for great and mighty things which is why we named him Joshua. His name means “a deliverer.” The Joshua of the Bible was often told to be strong and courageous, and we see this same spirit alive in little Joshua. While we don’t know the story of his life, we do have the honor and privilege of raising Joshua and being used by God to help create it. God knows the plans he has for all of us…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Thanks for letting us share this dream with you. We serve an AWESOME God!