Be Still My Heart!!!!

This precious gift was in my inbox this morning when I woke up at 5:45. The sweet family that went to her orphanage on April 12th was kind enough and requested to take pictures of three of the kiddos that are waiting for families. I was not certain that we were one of those families. There was an email yesterday that she did get pictures of LuPing and two other babies and she promised to have the pictures emailed to us last night. Well, we waited up until after midnight and there was no picture. Well.......Jeremy got up for work this morning at 5:00. I was sleeping until about 5:30 and woke up and laid in bed for about 10 minutes. I couldn't take it any longer and meandered downstairs. I found Jeremy with my computer on the couch and he was going through my email! I laughed at him as he could not figure out how to enter my Yahoo! group, which is where the pictures were being stored.  

And if you didn't get enough of her sweetness in the above picture, here is yet another. This is such a sweet picture of her and her expression is so serious.


Notice the picture in her little hands? Yes, that is our family picture. Her orphanage did give her the care package we sent and she is holding the picture. We were told that the nannies were pointing to our pictures and showing her "Ma Ma" and "Ba Ba". This did my heart so much good.


This process has proven to bring out emotions in my hubby as well. As we scrolled through all 22 pictures, I was crying. Then I looked over at Jeremy at 5:30 and he was wiping tears from his eyes as well!  It is safe to say she already has "Ba Ba" wrapped around her little fingers.


Here are a few more of the pictures we received. Enjoy!!!

It appears that Mariah may have just begun walking as she seems a little unsure. I think she also may have been overwhelmed by all of the attention.


We also ordered an update from an independent company in China. We placed that order on Tuesday and finally on Saturday afternoon we received a small update. I was thrilled!!  


According to their records, Mariah is small, about 20 pounds. We also got her head circumference, chest measurement, and foot measurement. Now we have an idea what size of clothes to begin buying.....well, more like continue buying.  We needed to know what size to take with us to China. We also needed

to know what size diaper to take. We are certainly relieved to have a fairly good idea. 


Along with the update we did receive two other pictures. One was blurry but Mariah was smiling! That was the first "happy" picture we have seen.


The picture to the right is Mariah and one of the Half the Sky nannies. I love how happy the nanny is and it seems like she really loves Mariah.  


I think I forgot to mention that we did receive our I800 immigration approval on Wednesday too!!!! We are inching closer and closer to our baby girl. We still hope to travel in June. There are just a few more steps left in the process. This part of the process is getting Mariah's paperwork legal for her to become a U.S. citizen upon landing in the U.S.  


I have finished my homeschooling for this year as well. The kids are still working on finishing up some of their independent work. This will go for just a couple of more weeks. But they have finished their history, science, spelling, Bible, and literature. They still have math and Language Arts to finish up. It feels so good to have this year behind us. The stress of our adoption and Ben's health issues have drained us. Through it all, God is still so good! We trust Him to give us the wisdom we need as parents.


I am so tired as we have had a crazy week. Monday, Jeremy and I began our shots for our trip....Hep A, Hep B, and Polio. Kyle also had his allergy shots on Monday and Micah was seen due to his horrible allergies/sinus problems. Tuesday we had family pictures for our church directory. Thursday was nice as my parents drove down from Pittsburgh to stay with our kids while we took Ben to Cincinnati EARLY Friday morning. That was a long day....8+ hours in the car.


I may write a little more later this week but for tonight, I need to go. I do have math and Language Arts papers to grade before the kids start their day tomorrow. I will leave you with one of the countless verses that have been a comfort to me throughout this race to bring Mariah home. I think one day I will post a blog on just the verses that the Lord has used to convict and encourage us on our journey. For tonight I will leave you with only one.


Praise the Lord, O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
                                                                                                              Isaiah 25:1