Psalm 1:3
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Clay’s Adoption
We started the adoption process in 2009. God had work to do in us, showing us how to look for our son, and not worry about the prognosis attached to him. When we watched the video of this handsome four-year-old, he was intelligent, like he had a thousand questions, and he was wringing his hands. The wringing hands were curiously familiar. Joel’s Grampa often did this. We sent for more information, and saw his name was Hu. Joel’s Grampa’s name was Hugh. We knew this was our son.
We travelled to Beijing in November of 2010 to pick up Hu Zheng. It was a short orientation of our new son. He did have a “bladder bag”, that was obvious. The rest of his condition, we knew next to nothing about. As for him, he put on a brave face as they explained what was happening. Then we left. In the van, Joel found a cookie, and from there, Hu immediately started enjoying himself. He talked and laughed, examining everything around us. There was something about him, a confidence that he had already decided. He was ours and we were his.
We gave Hu Zheng the name Clay Hu. Clay is taken from the verse “For we have in this treasure, jars of clay, so that men may know this all-surpassing power is from God and not from men.”
Surgeries began for Clay, early in 2011. He had five that gave him use of his own body, and got rid of his bag. Everything looked good at that time, inside his body. Little did we know he was carrying issues from utero, that were damaging and worsening.
Clay’s diagnosis
In April of 2019, we took Clay to the doctor to check out some joint pain he had been experiencing. They found him in good health. To be sure, they did blood work before we left. We had only been home a short while, when the office called and instructed us to go to the hospital right away. They had an ambulance ready to take us to UNC Chapel Hill. Clay was in kidney failure! We spent the next couple of weeks at the hospital having test after test, news after news.
Our life was shocked. So much stopped, but much began as well. Here is where empathy is born, prayers pour, belief is checked. We were wide awake, and our friends and family with us. All eyes are on our God, what will He do?
Clay was stable while we were trained in PD dialysis. We are now at home with a dialysis machine that he uses overnight. He has lots of meds, lots of routine regiments, lots of doctor’s visits. But we are glad to be home. We are glad for meds, regiments, and doctors. God has never left us, and we look forward to what He will do next!
Joyfully,
Joel Benson