Our China Doll

We are on the road to our second China adoption and are awed once again how God puts His plans in perfect order and time. We knew as we started the process with Isaiah that we'd also have a daughter from China, but had no idea how or when. After a year of much transition and joy with our first, we found Jin Ming. We first saw her in November on the Chidrens House International list, but her file was under review. When we returned home from our Thanksgiving trip we checked the list again. She was still there and no match had been made. She continued to pull at our heart strings and on November 29th we asked to review her file. She was under review again from another family, but her files were e-mailed to us so we could get to know her. She had congenital glaucoma and was blind in her right eye with limited vision in her left eye. Surgery had been done at 15 months to stabalize her vision and two others to remove her tonsils and a polyp from her tongue. She had been through so much at such a young age. By December 7th Jeff and I were e-mailing the agency to let them know that we were seriously considering her. I was still reserved in my heart out of fear of all the "what if's", while I watched Jeff grow in a confidence that she was the one. I knew that Jeff would lead us through this adoption, but I wasn't prepared for the fears that would attack me. In all of this, God was faithfully leading us and preparing me for that leap of faith only He could perform.

I had called our daughter Faith from the beginning, not knowing how many unknowns there would truly be. After talking to doctors and waiting on a reply from our insurance, we took that "leap of Faith" and made our request to adopt Jin Ming on January 7th. I love to look back already and see how He leads through doubts and fears nevering wavering in His intentions and fully confident that His way will prevail on our weak hearts. He truly is a good, good God with an amazing heart for each of His kids. Our other kids are so excited about their little sister and Isaiah continues to bless us as he prepares for "his Jinny's" arrival home. He prays that "she won't have to cry anymore" and that "her mama and baba will get her soon". He's also informed us that she loves flowers and needs butterfly sunglasses! There is nothing like the simple faith and heart of a child to keep things in life real.

We continue to pray, as we did for Isaiah, that her heart will be prepared and her transition smooth. We also are praying for her eye pressures to stay in check and her ear infections to be healed. Isaiah often tells us how Jesus held him while he cried and waited for his mommy and daddy. We know he will do the same for Jin Ming.

Blessings--Leigh