I stand in awe.

Wow! There is so much going on here that I am somewhat overwhelmed by God's goodness to us.

You know, sometimes we doubt... we wonder why God could possibly be doing this. What good could come, for instance, in my having yet another surgery? And how could it be good to postpone our adoption for 7 long months because of it?  Wow. We had no idea!!  First of all, truly good health has finally come (so much so that last night as Andy & I were recounting things to be thankful for... my health wasn't mentioned... it's finally become "normal").  Second, it has allowed us to be part of a very special program with our adoption agency (which will officially start in a few weeks). This new "Special Focus" program is something China has begun to allow and Bethany (our agency) just decided to implement it. This will allow someone who is adopting a child who is "hard to place" the opportunity to keep their LID (log-in-date) and pursue another adoption. This is an amazing answer to prayer!! It saves hugely on time and finances... plus loads of footwork that you'd rather not be doing right after bringing your adopted sweetheart home.  From the beginning, we were praying that we could bring home 2 little angels from China, but it seemed like a huge mountain so far off in the distance... and now, God is giving us a way to have this dream become a reality!! Even as I write this, I am in awe.

And as if isn't awesome enough already, today we were given an "unofficial referral" for one special little girl with hydrocephalus (she had surgery for this at 11 months and is now getting ready to turn 2!).  Last Friday, we requested information on 3 little girls who we thought seemed to be a good fit with our family.  However, it turns out that 2 of those little girls had several other special needs not listed which were quite significant and were no longer in the range of what we believe we can handle at this time.  The 3rd little girl, "LiuLiu", had no "surprise needs"... just the awesome surprise of 13 pages of detailed information plus 7 precious pictures :) 

So, after prayer and discussion, we contacted our adoption specialist and requested her "official referral" :)  She suggested we get the opinion of a doctor before proceeding, so we contacted a friend and neurosurgeon who quickly responded with confirmation of what we thought about her diagnosis and condition... what a huge blessing!  Oh, and we also learned that "LiuLiu" is a special focus child... amazing!!

Our sweet girls asked if we received any information today on the 3 little girls, and so I shared with them all I knew.  As they looked at the pictures, Sammy thoughtfully said, "Mom, I think God wants us to take care of this little girl with hydrocephalus."  And Zoe is ready to have her here NOW!  I am so thankful that God has been answering my prayers to give my little girls a heart for adoption!!

I look hopefully towards the day when we finally meet our "Lily"... and someone gets to fill the little shoes on my nightstand :)

Thank you for being a part of our journey.  Please continue to pray with us during this exciting part of our adoption!!