We are home, at long last! It feels like we have been gone for 3 years, not 3 weeks. China was hard (experienced adoptive families say 'just survive China', and that is accurate) but Elsie is easy! She walked into our lives just over two weeks ago smiling, and hasn't stopped smiling. She fills our home and our hearts with such immense joy. She is spunky and smart, funny and super LOUD. And she wouldn't be an Opitz if she wasn't a bit bossy too! She has captured each of our hearts, and she is definitely a Papa's girl. She is brave and strong, and walks with a solid, confident march. She loves her new shoes, loves to wear pretty dresses, and is learning a little how to play with toys, although she would much rather horse around with the kids. She loves to be tickled and playfully rocked like a baby, and she has the most musical laughter I've ever heard, it's magical. She talks constantly, and a little bit is in English already. It feels like she has always been here in our family in a weird way. She is just so at ease. She is perfect!
It's official, Elsie and I signed our papers with red ink.
Elsie named her doll Shao Fen "Little Pink".
On the train to Hong Kong.
Omaha at long last! So wonderful to be back home.
We are so immensely grateful for all of your prayers that carried us through this year of toiling paperwork, angstful waiting, and grueling travel to bring our beautiful daughter home. God listens to our prayers and He was faithful in every one. He chose the perfect girl to fit right in to our family and this Holy ground we were fortunate enough to walk on has changed us forever. There is no other ground we wish to walk on ever again. It is hard, so very hard, but in the midst of hard is when you see God working so clearly. It's hard to see God, to feel Him tangibly close when we are surrounded in comfort and ease. Thank you to each of you for your love and prayers, and may God bless you abundantly.
Prayer request: We humbly ask that you join us in praising God for all He has done for us on this journey. Truly, truly He is so very good.
Addie and I have been in Beijing for 3 days. The flight over was painfully long. We arrived at our hotel and crashed hard. Yesterday we toured with a guide Tiennamen Square and the Forbidden Palace. What did I take away from this day? 1) Beijing is scorching hot in August, 2)being white we were asked several times for people to take their picture with us. 3) people here still revere Chairman Mao and make a pilgrimage here and wait in a line that you have never seen, all day, to see Chairman Mao’s body lying in state. 4) there are cameras EVERYWHERE. 5)China has soooooo many people and everything is shoulder to shoulder crowded...and sweaty hot. 6)How to use a squatte potty successfully (we read a tutorial online before we went out, thank goodness! Still, you can never really be prepared for that experience.)We were still heavily jet lagged yesterday, so we cut tour short, came back to hotel and showered and tried to stay awake! We slept heavily and awoke free from jet lag today, and today we went to the Great Wall. Addie turned 22 today, and visiting the Great Wall will be hard to beat in the future, as far as birthdays go! First we rode a ski-lift up to the top, it was soooo far off the ground, it was magical. It smelled so so fresh and good and clean. It was stunning there, and you just keep saying to yourself, “I am standing on the Great Wall of China!”, it was unreal. And there were poisonous giant (!) millipedes all over it. And so many beautiful butterflies. To get back down they had this great toboggan ride, it goes on forever, it was so fun! We are so overwhelmed by how beautiful it is here, and how ancient it is. Tomorrow we leave early for our flight to Lanzhou. 3 more sleeps before Elsie is with us! I cannot comprehend that, I can say it with words, but I just cannot believe we are this close. Thank you for your prayers, they carry us through the rough bits!
You see this beautiful, worthy, wonderfully made child?
She has 14 days left as an orphan!!! On August 20, she will walk out of her orphanage and into her family. Forever. Beloved daughter, sister, grandaughter, neice, cousin.
Adelaide and I leave Omaha next Monday, the 13th, to drive to KC for our flight out on Tues. We arrive in Beijing on the 15th,Wednesday. We acclimate to the time difference and travel to Elsie's province during the next couple days. We rest up on the 18th and 19th. Then we meet our beautiful girl on Monday the 20th. We have more paperwork in her province for the remainder of the week, and then we will fly down to Guangzhou to complete the necessary steps and paperwork and her visa to bring her home. On Aug 30 we will take the train over to Hong Kong, where we fly out on Sept 2.
I havent posted for awhile, but basically all you missed was my whiny drama about how long this wait is. So its probably for the best.
Elsie's Gotcha Day is Aug 20. Last year on Aug 20 Neil and I asked for Elsie's file to begin this crazy wonderful HARD-but-oh-so-worth-it journey.
God is so so good. He blows me away with His deep, profound, tangible love.
So it's a big prayer request with this blog post, obviously. Safe flights, prepared hearts all around, and good health. Please pray for a hedge of protection around Addie, Elsie and me. And please pray for Neil and Oscar, Finn, and Zinny that they survive well while I'm gone for almost 3 weeks (!) 😢
Thank you for all your prayers that have carried us this far, may God bless you well.
And keep your eyes out for a soon to be orphan-no-more!!
This is the beautiful and heartbreaking and redemptive story of a little girl abandoned as a tiny baby in a bus station. For 5 long years she lived without the love and sweet care of a mother or father. No kisses on owies, no bedtime stories, no celebrations of her birthdays. No soothing during thunderstorms, no long warm bubblebaths. No girly pedicures, no riding bikes. No toys or clothes to call her own.
But....on Monday in China, her father and mother,who labored so long and hard, a whole year almost, SET HER FREE. Welcomed her into their hearts FOREVER. She is no longer a 'foundling' but a daughter, a sister, a grandaughter, a niece, a cousin. And do you want to see what that looks like??
This....
This is freedom . This is love. This is hope realized. This is God.
During this family's meeting with their new daughter, they had to all leave and take an official photo for paperwork purposes. Their new daughter, quite happy up to this moment, suddenly started crying and being stubborn. She misunderstood what was happening and was frightened because she thought she was going back to the orphanage...She would rather stay with these white strangers that she had known for less than an hour than to go back to the only place she has ever lived.
Just sit with that for a moment.
Orphanages are no place for children. Even the 'nicer' ones are no match for a family. And even though she had friends there, Elsie for one, she was going to fight to not go back. And she and Elsie ARE friends. Here they are together on Elsie's birthday party we sent to her....
The orphanage director, at the Family Day (or Gotcha Day) meeting told my friend that the girls are friends. My friend's new daughter has watched the birthday video taken with this photo above 20 times a day. Our poor Elsie's friend has left, and we won't be there for over 2 more months. It is enough to make a mother's heart cry.
My friend gave me permission to tell their story and share their pictures with you. Please pray for their travel and their transition. They are still in China, I talk to her every evening,( morning for her). She is my trailblazer! What a precious gift she has given me, letting me walk alongside and be a witness to a most beautiful and delicate moment in their life. Their holy ground. And that gift I give to you. Let it break your heart for these orphans.
Prayer request: please cover this beautiful family in prayer!
" I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. ". John 14:18
We received the hard copy of our LOA all the way from China! We had to sign the letter of acceptance, and check the box for accept (there was a box to decline...). It was so....huge...beautiful...holy. Her name and birthdate were on it, and a line that read 'Identity' and in the space provided was the word 'Foundling'. Elsie is a foundling, meaning that she was found. That word pierced my heart. It is such a lonely word. A lost word. It speaks to her profound loss...7 years a foundling. I wept. I weep. It just cracks my heart wide open. Way back in Sept when I was talking to the adoption agency about her, I asked them if there has ever been anyone else that asked for her file or inquired about her. They said no one, ever.
The weight of this is nothing short of tragic.
BUT! Today she has a mommy and papa that are scrambling as fast as God allows us to get to her, she has an army of prayer warriors (you!) praying her swiftly home! HOME. Forever home. Hallelujah, Praise to our good good Father!!! It is nothing short of a miracle that He has chosen a little girl all the way around the world, her, out of billions of children, to be our daughter!!
I have another blog post that I am excited to share. My good friend is in China now and she picked up her new daughter (Elsie's friend!) on Monday. She gave me permission to share her story and pictures, it is redemption in a little girl's smile. But I just ask that we sit in deep gratitude for His mercy and grace and love in this day of days. This beautiful, wonderful day that brought to us paperwork that will bring her home.
Thank you for your prayers and love.
This LOA is on its way as I write this blog back to our agency in MD via FedEx,and will be Fedex'd tomorrow to US Immigration office. This is the I800 paperwork phase. It is asking our government if we can adopt Elsie specifically. Previous immigration said yes to our request to adopt *a* child,and this paperwork is for their ok to adopt *this* child, now that China said yes to *this* child (!). This should hit the USCIS lockbox on Thursday (!) And then we wait 3 ish weeks for the approval.
Prayer request is, of course, for safe handling of our LOA all the way to USCIS, and prayers of immense gratitude that we are so blessed to be on this journey and we got to sign papers saying yes! we want Shi Qing, (Elsie).
Hallelujah! Praise be to God! A Mountain begins to crumble!
We were informed that we have moved into *matching*!!! This is the last step before we are issued LOA! Typically people wait 1-3 days *in matching* and then are issued the LOA. The most recent families waited 2 weeks from matching to LOA, so we will hopefully have it in the next week or two! We are over the moon!!
Please keep praying that LOA arrives soon soon soon!
To God be the glory!!
