On Wednesday (3/23/11), Trent called Lisa at Lifeline to find out more about "Angela". He found out that another family placed her "on hold" that morning. This meant that they had 2 weeks to review her medicals and decide if they wanted to move forward to adopt her. When I talked to him around 10:00 am and found out that there was nothing we could do at this point, I was so upset. I went back to my classroom and cried. I felt so strongly that she was meant to be mine, but was trying to come to terms with the fact that God had other plans. For the next three days, I prayed for this little girl and the family that had a big decision to make. I also grieved for her...wishing that we were the family getting to make that decision!! My kids grieved for her and talked about her. None of us could let her go. I barely slept on Thursday night just thinking about her. I could see her so clearly with our family. I prayed most of the night for God to give me peace. I just got this feeling that she was supposed to be a part of our family. On Friday morning, I e-mailed Lisa just to ask that she please let us know when the family decided to move forward with the adoption. I needed some closure and peace of mind that this sweet little girl would find a family. Lisa responded immediately (as usual) that she would be in contact as soon as she heard anything. By Friday afternoon, I was drained. Reece had a practice game, but I decided to stay home. After everyone left, I checked my e-mail. Lisa had sent another e-mail...I was shocked to read that the other family was NOT moving forward with the paperwork to adopt "Angela". I ran through my empty house screaming like a crazy person. I knew that I had to get to Trent to tell him and find out if he wanted me to put her "on hold" for us. I drove like a maniac to the baseball field. As soon as he saw me jump out of my car (that I left in the road, oops), he knew what was going on. When I made it to the fence, he said "they let her go, didn't they?". We quickly decided that, of course, we would put her on hold and I hurried back home to e-mail and call Lisa. By 7:00 pm that same night, we had heard back from a Dr. who reviewed the medicals and videos that I had forwarded to her. She gave us a very optimistic report and we knew that we had a huge decision to make. Honestly, we were a little scared. This little girl has a hip dislocation....she walks in a crouched position. The Dr. told us that she may not ever walk normally or she may walk following a tough surgery and recovery with extensive rehab. We won't know until she can be examined. After watching her video, it's obvious that she is one determined little girl...full of life and joy :) As we talked about what to do, we were in turmoil. We weren't planning on a third child, but God was sure opening doors for this one to be a part of our family. We decided to have a movie night and not make a decision until we rested and prayed a lot more. Before we started our movies, I had found a blog of a family who had a daughter from the same orphanage who was around the same age as "Angela". I e-mailed her to see if she had seen this sweet girl when they adopted their daughter, Hope, around 6 months earlier. Two movies later, around 1:00 am, Trent and I were on the couch talking when I checked my e-mail. We were both amazed to read that the family I had contacted not only knew of "Angela" but their daughter, Hope, had talked to her on the phone since she'd been home!!! We realized they lived in Auburn, only a few hours from us!! If this little girl was meant to be ours, she had a friend that close...WOW! They went on to say how badly she wanted a family of her own. Our hearts broke to think of that sweet little girl wanting a family...NO child should be without a family to love them. God kept gently showing us that she was meant to be ours, but we were still scared. After another long night with no sleep, we were wide awake and discussing our decision. Trent sat on one couch and me on the other, both of us on our laptops, watching her video over and over. The decision seemed so easy when we focused on her. I got an e-mail from another family whose blog I had found. She just wanted me to know that she had been praying for us and wanted to check in. Her e-mail closed with a quote from Hudon Taylor, a missionary to China in the 1800's, "Every great work of God, first is impossible, then it is difficult, and then it is done". I read this to Trent and he kept asking me to repeat it. As it sank in , he looked at me and said, "ok, let's go get her"!!!!!!!!! We both knew without a doubt that she was ours. God gave us complete peace about it. We have always tried to follow God's will for our lives, but have never felt so strongly that we are exactly where He wants us to be. By the end of the day we had notified the agency of our plans to move forward and started on paperwork. We also chose our sweet girl's name...Lily, which means beauty. Our beauty is coming home!!!
We found out yesterday (4/08/11) that we have been granted Preliminary Approval (PA) to move forward with the adoption. This is 4 days after submitting our paperwork to China. God is so good!!
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