Making Georgia Smile

Georgia Faith Johnson (formerly, Georgia Sonkarley)
Birthday: December 19, 2005

Almost a year ago, my wife and I started the process of adoption. (If you’d like to know more about why we’re adopting, just go to http://pastortoby.blogspot.com and go to February 2007 in the archives… look for “Adoption: Not Just a Teenage Mother’s Option”.) In March 2007, we actually got to choose a child, having no information but a picture. Great prayer was invested, but no clear direction came. So, we just began to scroll through pictures and finally came across Georgia… Georgia Sonkarley. After only a few moments of looking at the picture and saying her name out loud (and singing “Georgia on My Mind”), we knew she was ours, so we chose her.

After large amounts of governmental red tape, we are finally scheduled to bring Georgia home. I will leave for Liberia on January 10 and probably not return until February 7. It’s a long trip and a long time to be away from my wife (Susan) and my three other children (Caleb, Austin, and Emilie Grace), but we have to leave room for the consular in the US Embassy office to drag her feet while I’m there. We are thrilled about knowing that Georgia’s homecoming will be soon, and we pray that God will make the time that we must be separated pass quickly.

Now, we come to “making Georgia smile.” We only have two pictures of Georgia… this one and her passport photo. Neither picture shows our little girl smiling. This morning, as I walked out the door, I told my wife, “You know what I’m looking forward to? Making Georgia smile.” As I drove from one place to another, beginning the work of another day, I began to wonder what will make Georgia smile.

Because she just turned two, she probably won’t understand all that is happening when I arrive in Liberia to claim her as my daughter. When I want to hug her, she may resist at first. What child wouldn’t? But do you know one of the things that gives me pleasure as a Father? I love making my children smile. Sometimes, I see them hurt and sad because of a bad day or a hard fall… or, they have been punished and are having trouble finding what we call “a happy heart.” This is where I spring to life. I love making my kids smile and laugh… especially a belly laugh. I love it when they’re crying, and I can turn their crying into laughter. I know what hits their button. I know what tickles them. Usually, it involves a little embarrassment on my part… acting silly, making faces, hitting myself in cartoon fashion. Maybe just a good tickle will tickle them enough to break out the smiles. Whatever it takes, I love turning their little hearts from gloom to joy.

I wonder what it will take for Georgia. Will she be ticklish, so that I can sneak a finger between her arm and side or “count her ribs” (like my uncle used to do) or squeeze her knee just right? Will she love silliness, so that rolling my eyes and sticking out my tongue and dancing around like a fool will hit the spot? What will it take? Maybe she won’t have a bad day… maybe I’ll just get to make Georgia smile by walking in the door each day and announcing my arrival. She hears Daddy’s voice and comes running with her brothers and sister… arms open wide and smiling from ear to ear. Maybe it’s just saying “yes” when she asks me to attend her pretend tea party or kick the soccer ball with her. Who knows what will make Georgia smile?

More than just smiling or laughing, I want to give Georgia happiness, as best I know how. I want her heart to be warmed with the love of our family. I want her to feel secure with me and with Susan, knowing we will never abandon her… we will never leave her or forsake her, so to speak. I want her to feel protected, well-fed, played with, part of something, included, loved. I don’t want her to forget Liberia, but I want her to know that she is no longer an orphan and should never feel like an orphan again. A great plan was devised, and a great price was paid so that she could live her days in the love of a father and mother and brothers and sisters.

In all of this, my prayer is that Georgia’s life will be marked by a smile… not a look of uncertainty, not a look of fear, not a look of loneliness… but a smile. I pray that the security, teaching, discipline, hope, provision, and love she feels in our home will point her away from her father to her Father. My prayer is that I could be part of God’s intervention in her life… saving her physically from being a lifelong orphan with a shortened lifespan… saving her spiritually from being an eternal orphan with a meaningless lifespan. In short, I pray that Susan and Caleb and Austin and Emilie Grace and I will be part of God’s work… making Georgia smile.