baby dolls!

This in tonight, from Stacy in China via her orphanage visit:


OHHHH, I forgot one more thing...when I asked the director what is something Emma likes or would want her family to know she likes...check this out....she likes BABY DOLLS.  All I could think about was that precious baby doll you bought her :)  She said to tell you guys how special Emma is and how much the staff really loves her :)


Oh, the joy!
Ah, the growing pile to pack of dolls and doll clothes! :)


We just LOVE you, Emma Kate!

Manna. More than enough

Our beautiful Emma Kate

sparkly and beautiful girl!

Stacy, Paul and Solomon gave us the most amazing of gifts.  The photos are from a special part of their visit to their sweet son's orphanage.  While there, they took precious time out of their own experience to see, meet and spend time with Emma Kate.  

Stacy wrote to us about Emma.  These are words to treasure for us.  I feel like Mary, pondering these things in my heart!  Here is what Stacy and Paul say:

We had the awesome, beautiful privilege of meeting your beautiful girl!!!!  She is wonderful mama...absolutely wonderful!!!  It was nap time but they called her out of bed for us to meet her.  She came running out with a huge smile!!  The nannies and teachers said she is a very good girl...that she is very sweet and calm.  We told them that her new name will be Emma and they LOVE it!!!  She loved hearing that she had brothers and a sister.  They were telling her that you were coming very soon and that you love her and she was ALL SMILES!!!!!!!!! She knows you guys are coming and that made her sooooo happy!!!

Manna.  Surely more than enough.  Quite possibly more than my heart can hold.  

Knowing that she KNOWS, is such comfort.  Evidence of God's abundant provision for Emma and for us.  His ways really are perfect and true.  He has MORE than answered the cry of our hearts.  I am having a hard time conceiving of all that this means for Emma as she awaits us. Seeing her friend, Solomon, with his family, and learning what it means when a Mom and Dad come and are united with you.  Seeing Solomon so firmly attached to his Mom and Dad, Stacy and Paul, and learning how love does indeed take you in.  Solomon, Stacy writes in her blog, was very clear about going with them, not staying in the orphanage.  That, after only four days with them!  

I have to believe that for Emma to have time knowing we are coming soon, and readying her heart for that, is huge for her.   I know she is only five, but the gift of knowing and not being taken by surprise is such a blessing.  

YuXiao, our Little Jade, knows her name has grown.  She is also, and will also be, Emma.  This is profound for her to know this information already.  And to know that her caregivers are pleased with it, and will pass along their pleasure to her, is amazing.  Another piece of God's abundant provision and lovingkindness for His child.  Another way she can already begin to bond with us, even from afar.  Her heart tendered toward a family that already knows, loves and treasures her.

The adoption road is so marvelous.  Filled again and again with mighty works of God.  I really believe He delights in delighting us; and He gets to show off in the most beautiful ways through adoption.  Adoption is a  picture of what believers all experience when they come to Him.  We all are orphans.  And God calls us home.  To Him.  He Himself refers to what happens spiritually when we are adopted as heirs to the promise.  I am adopted, by the King.  I am a daughter of the Lord Most High.  I belong, because He says so.  I belong because Jesus was and is worthy.  Worth enough.  Blessed be His name.  Blessed be His name in all the earth.

Oh, Emma.  Our dear, sweet YuXiao.  How we long to meet you, to hold you in our arms, to sing over you and dance as on a day of festival.  How we are filled with awe and wonder by you.  Our hearts are full of such deep love.  We are mighty for you, and the Lord is mighty for you!  And we delight in you, just as He does so perfectly.  You are a treasure.  We would walk 5,000 miles to come to your door.  We will cross seas, complete reams of paperwork, wait endlessly, and persevere in the promise of you!  Soon, so very soon, we will see the Lord complete His promise to us.  Soon, so soon, we will all be together.  

The Lord is our strength AND our song.   Our provider.  And He puts the lonely in families.  How lonely our lives would be without you here amongst us.  Why?  Because WE belong together.

We belong together.

And we simply adore and love you.

From here to China and back again.

From here to anywhere you are.

We really are counting the days, Emma YuXiao.

Love forever and always, dear one,

Momma and Daddy

delivered!

and received "happily".

Oh my stars.

Stacy and her family just received Solomon yesterday!  And when they did, they gave a letter with MANY pictures of us in it, to the orphanage director of Emma and Solomon's orphanage.

I awoke this morning to an email in our inbox relaying the following information (oh my lands!):

Hey Mama,

We gave Emma's album to the orphanage director yesterday...she was sooo happy to see it. It was fun watching her look through it!  We weren't sure if we'd be given permission to visit the orphanage so we wanted to make sure she got it.

What an amazing thing.  To know that the orphanage staff HAS the package is so sweet. To know they are HAPPY to see it, is another whole piece of sweet!  

Our hearts are so joy-filled this morning.  So excited to know that Emma Kate will know we are coming, and will have seen us before she meets us.  We are incredibly grateful to Stacy, and thrilled this made its way all the way to the hands of Emma's caregivers.  Those that have loved her ahead of us.

SOON she will be in our arms.  

We long for that day.

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land - Prov. 25:24-26

Oh, the joy in my heart this day.

Emma Kate, you are SO beloved.  And SO cared for.  Your God is a mighty God.  And in His grace and mercy He is tending you with a care that takes my breath away.

"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
       for he shields him all day long,
       and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders."

Our God is also tending EMma Kate's family.  The information and assurances that we keep receiving just bring peace and settle my heart.  God must know my thirsty heart is in need of this advanced level of care.  I am so humbled by what He has given us, and know it is so much more than we could or should expect.  I am so overwhelmed with how LOVED I have felt by the Lord in this adoption.  It stops me.

Following is a post that was written by a woman who just returned from volunteering in Emma Kate's orphanage and school.  I don't know that a waiting parent could read sweeter words.   The post is addressed to a Mom who is currently in China receiving her son!


 Sue,
Congratulations!  We were thinking about you.  The van that took us from Fuzhou to Jinjiang on Sunday, 2/28,for our Love Without Boundaries therapy camp, was the same one that was then used to bring your son to meet you back in Fuzhou!  The reason the director didn't accompany him was that Monday was the first day of our therapy camp at Jinjiang and she wanted to be there for that.

We are now home in the US, having returned late Tuesday.  Our time spent at Jinjiang was great, and we as Jinjiang families have so much to be thankful for.  The Jinjiang orphanage is quite a special place.  They have a beautiful building, playground and facilities.  But more importantly they have a director, assistant directors and ayis who really know and love the children.  The children are extremely well cared for.  They are clean and well dressed.  The director and asst. directors know all the children by name, and they all interact withthe children in a loving and positive way.  While we were there for our therapy camp, we had an opportunity to see the Believe in Me schools run by Love Without Boundaries.  What a wonderful opportunity for the children, to have a stimulating and enriching place to spend their days.  They always seemed to be having fun, whether in their classrooms or moving about the orphanage!  If you are looking for a good way to positively impact the life of a child at Jinjiang (or any other orphanage for that matter) - become a sponsor for the Believe in Me school!

We did have the wonderful, unforgettable experience of taking all the students of the Believe in Me classrooms on their first fieldtrip!  We took 32 children and about 20 caregivers/teachers /directors to McDonalds and then into the adjoing mall for little amusement rides.  This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!  The children were ear to ear smiles!  They ate their hamburgers, fries and nuggets with gusto (some even requested a 2nd burger!!).  To see them riding the carousel and waving as they came around brought tears to my eyes.  They had a blast.  It was a great experience for the caregivers as well, and gave them time to spend with the chilren in a normal childhood environment.  I hope the children get to do more of this, as it was such a positive experience for everyone!

I gave Director Wang both the scrapbook of Jinjiangsters that Gayle put together and last years Jinjiang calendar by Joann.  The directors and caregivers just loved looking at the pictures - they would point at pictures and laugh and smile.  They seemed genuinely thrilled to see how well all the children were doing!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take them along with me.

For any waiting families - I do have pictures that I took of the field trip to McDonald's.  I would be happy to share any pictures I have of your child with you, but according to CCAA regulations, I have to wait until the adoption is finalized.  So let me know when you travel, and I will make sure to send you the pictures for when you return home!