China Said Yes!

 
As we announced yesterday, we received approval from China to adopt our little Selah! We were not allowed to announce or share photos until our letter of approval, and we had been waiting anxiously to do so after our referral on March 3rd.
 
This winter was emotional for us, as we were not-so-patiently waiting to receive our daughter’s file. At the end of every week without receiving her file, I would feel disappointed. I knew she was out there, and it was so hard to just wait. After the closure of China for Chinese New Year in February, God just filled me with a patience that definitely did not come from me.  In the end of February, our agency sent us an email with a group of 20 photos saying that they expected files from one of the partner orphanages for 20 children. I spent way too much time staring at those photos, wondering if one of them was our Selah. On March 3rd, a friend from our agency messaged me that she had gotten “the call” for a little girl from one of the photos. I anxiously kept the phone next to me because I just knew we would get a call, too. Sure enough, about 45 minutes later, my phone rang with our agency’s number. My heart started beating fast, and I answered excitedly. Our coordinator said she had a little girl who was almost two that she would like to share with us. I was so excited and nervous and the boys were running around playing that I barely heard anything she said. She sent us an email with the file and photos attached, and I saw a photo of the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, one that I had been staring at for the past few weeks. I knew she was our daughter.  We had previously reviewed two different files before, and I felt God whisper a “no” to my heart both times. This time, it was a “yes”. This was our daughter, the one that God had planned to join our family before we ever knew we were pursuing adoption.
 
We celebrated Selah’s second birthday last week. It was a hard day, because I couldn’t stop thinking about her and what she was doing all day. We sang to her and the boys made her birthday cards. It’s exciting to know that this is her last birthday without a family. Next year she will have a huge party to make up for the two birthdays we have missed!
 
These next few weeks will be filled with lots more paperwork (visas, immigration paperwork, etc.), getting together a care package to send to Selah, and waiting for more approvals until we get our final Travel Approval and consulate appointment. We are praying for late May travel, although that is a stretch at this point. The travel costs go up significantly in June, plus we just want our girl home with us as soon as possible, so will you pray for a miracle with us so we can travel to China in May? God has already provided miracle after miracle for this adoption, so I know with Him, anything is possible! Selah also needs lots of prayer for her little heart. She will be leaving the only life she has known, and that will cause her so much grief. Will you pray that God comforts her heart and prepares her to be loved by her forever family?
 
We are so thankful to God for giving us this wonderful gift and performing miracle after miracle to bring Selah to us. We are also thankful for all of you, the people who have donated, volunteered at events, purchased t-shirts, and prayed for us. Without the way God has used all of you, we might not be bringing our little girl home.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!