Thirteen Long Years

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God: and the peace of God, which surpasses all understand, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.     Philippians 4:5-7

I need to take a few minutes and write a special blog post about our new sweet daughter. We have not chosen a name yet for our daughter because we need a little more information about her. We would love for her to possibly have some input on her English name but we may not be able to get that information. We should know in the next couple of weeks.

Our daughter's Ch*nese name is Huiyi. That is a very difficult name to pronounce in English. Keep in mind that we will be calling her that for a while after we get her home though. She has had this name for 13 years, probably 14 years by the time we get her home.

The above picture is a very serious picture but we do have a few happy ones. I think there must have been some kind of a cook-out and she was preparing her meal here.

I am not entirely sure why these pictures were taken in the dark at the playground but we will take any pictures we can get our hands on. You can see how tiny she is. But she is smiling!

I am not entirely sure what this next picture is but she looks so sweet here. I zoomed in on her. The original picture shows her sitting with other girls. Maybe school or a class of some kind.

We also are unsure when these pictures were taken.

With our preliminary approval this week, the kids and I decided to make some Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. With all the stormy weather we have had, the kids have been chased inside. What better way to celebrate? Of course, Rebecca had to save a few spoonfuls of cookie dough for Daddy!

Jeremy and I have spent the past few days getting things together to send her a care package. Her file states that she has been living in foster care since last August.

We were also in contact with another mom who adopted from this orphanage said her daughter's file stated the same thing but it was a mistranslation. We just don't know where she is.

This is just an example of a small part of the paperwork we have completed so far. We have finished more but I wanted to show you a portion of what adoption looks like. Hence the lack of blogging!

The orphanage director described our daughter as quiet and rather obedient. It sounds as if she is very shy. The translation is funny and states, "Few talk and vague personality." Poor sweetie was probably so overwhelmed with all of the changes in her life. The file states she lived in the orphanage for 12 1/2 years then was transferred to foster care. I cannot imagine how she was feeling. 

She also likes to draw. I cannot wait to see the artist we will have in our home. 

We cannot wait to see any updates on our sweetheart. We are hoping to get something back this week. We sent her a care package through a service in China. We were able to send her some digital photos of our family and letters to be translated. 

This process will go super fast. We had our first home study visit this past Friday. It lasted 3 1/2 hours! We meet again tomorrow, Monday. She will give individual interviews for Jeremy and me. She will interview the kids and give a home safety inspection. Can you guess what we did yesterday? We cleaned!!!!  Everyone pitched in and cleaned. 

I also wanted to share a few pictures of the other kids enjoying the summer. 

I took a few of these through the screen. I apologize for the poor quality of a few.

Keep in mind we do have a much larger pool in the yard. Evidently Mariah's pool on the deck is a lot of fun.

It is likely a tie as to who had the most fun!

I will add that the kids taught Mariah how to blow though those pool noodles and spray others with water. It is safe to say that while Jeremy was watching Mariah yesterday, he ended up a little wet! Mariah is good at that!