Meeting a Friend

At the Helping Hand picnic, I had a chance to meet a "blog friend". She has a beautiful family and just recently adopted her second daughter from China. I have followed her journey...and got a chance to see her beautiful daughters in person on Saturday. If you want to check out her journey..... go to http://aladyblog.blogspot.com

More Pictures from A Helping Hand Picnic

AHH Reunion

This past weekend was the Family Reunion for A Helping Hand... the adoption agency I used when bringing Lillie home. What made it extra special was that three of the 7 families we traveled with last July were able to attend! It was wonderful to see everyone and to see how different the girls were from a year ago! To say these families play a significant role in my journey to Lillie would be an understatement. Each of them holds such a special place in my heart and to spend time together was such a blessing. I was so amazed at the changes each of the girls have gone through in the past year...they are bigger, their eyes are brighter, their smiles are quick and their love for their families is obvious. God is good!



What a difference a year has made!

Dinner with our Travel friends!

We had a chance to get together with 3 of the 7 families in our travel group at Dinner on Friday Night! It was so amazing to see the girls and the changes in each of them..even as they were getting re-acquainted. Here are a few pictures from that night!

Lillie Mae

Serine

Bella

Lillie Elizabeth

Another Wedding for Lillie

My Friend Jessica got married on June 5th. Lillie and I attended her wedding, and it was beautiful. It was outside, so Lillie got to stay for the ceremony and only talked a little. Mostly it was to tell what was happening. "Girls" "Boys" "Basket" " Flowers" and my favorite " Jessie Hat. Jessie Pretty, Mommy"

Fate, Fuling, and an angel named Gin Gin!

Once upon a time, there was a woman who knew she wanted a child. Though her ideas about the future changed with time, she still thought of adoption often. Taking that first step, however, scared her...especially as a single woman...Could she provide all that a child would need? Could she financially handle the experience? Was this really God's plan for her life?
Well, a few years passed and shecontinued to talk to friends about her dream. Lots of people encouraged her and she continued to look into adoption, though she still wasn't sure even which country to consider.
Then, one day,her good friend Anna said she had a friend who was a single adoptive mother. She said Kate would be in town and thought it would be a great for us to meet.
I walked into Anna's house and I was first greeted by a beautiful little girl named Gin Gin. She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and said, " Andrea, your baby is in China!" I laughed, knowing that Kate and Anna had told Gin Gin to say this! Kate and I talked and I watched Gin Gin and Sophia play and I began to feel a bit more certain....maybe I really could do this! But did I move ahead? ....well
A year passed, and I finally decided to fill out an application and send it in. ( The reasons behind this are another story, and ultimately involve another little "angel" that helped Lillie and I find one another). After a month, I was matched with a beautiful toddler from Fuling, China. I quickly emailed Kate to tell her I was finally taking a leap of faith and that I had a daughter in China, just as Gin Gin had said. Kate quickly responded with news that Gin Gin clearly knew more than either of us... as fate would have it, Gin Gin is also from Fuling! It was the first in many "God moments" that occured throughout the adoption process, each giving me the knowledge that Lillie and I were truly meant to be together.

On Saturday, Lillie and Gin Gin met for the first time! Gin Gin walked up and said, " See Andrea, I told you your baby was in China!" You were right Gin Gin and I thank God every day for that!


I am finding more and more that God speaks to us through "angels"... special people with whom our lives intersect. I am so glad I listened to the prophetic words of a beautiful 2 year old!

Thankful Thursday

These pictures are from a month ago, but I love them because they show how truly loved Lillie is! (Obviously these pictures were takenbefore Emory had open heart surgery and dad broke his collar bone!)

11 Months since Family Day!

It is hard to believe it has been 11 months since China said Lillie and I were a family! She was "mine" in my heart 10 months previous, but our offical meeting and formal paperwork states our family day as 7/9/07. I think back often to this time last year, and what was occuring in both of our lives. I was on a mission trip with my youth group in Southern Texas and Mexico. The group picture is the amazing group of youth and adults that were a part of the mission trip.

Every time my phone rang that week, the kids would all ask, " Is it the call???" Each time, I was sad to tell them it was not Grace telling me I had travel approval. We then took a day trip into Mexico. We visited an Orphanage there and several of the communities that Good Samaritan Southwest Ministries is working in. It was hot and dusty and we had no air conditioning in the van. The picture says it all!!!!

My phone rang while we were still in Mexico, the kids all got excited, and I didn't know what to do! I worried that I would pay this huge amount for the call, only to find out it wasn't "the call". As soon as we reached the border I called and got the message...I had travel approval!

Halfway across the world, Lillie was still at the SWI. She had never heard English, she was living with many other children and had no understanding of how much her life was about to change. She had seen a few pictures, possibly had a few people tell her I was " ma ma" but I know that it was not something she could even begin to fathom.
11 months later, here we are... Lillie is sitting in the floor cutting and drawing and talking up a storm. She told me tonight that her dinner was 'licious. She has started to say "Love you, Mommy" clearly and has even said it without prompting a few times! ( She especially loves to do the sign for it!). She is happy and full of joy. She is loved my many!



Saturday, we went to our friend's Pig Roast. Last year it occurred right after we returned from China and was Lillie's first "outing". She stayed in my lap the entire time, fearful and uncertain. Her little head had recently been shaved and she was very quiet. This year, we sported pig tails and a swimsuit. She laughed and played and swam, making new friends and loving every minute of it! I found myself watching in awe...thinking about the difference.
What an amazing journey we have been taking together and how many great adventures are yet to come!