Family Vacation - One Year Later

Last week I sat in the very same beach house where we first saw Mia's picture one year earlier.  On July 8, 2009, I opened an e-mail from our agency's special needs coordinator.   It contained the files of three girls from the China Shared Special Needs list.  Less than a week earlier we had submitted our paperwork to begin another adoption. .  We had struggled with what to do with our burden for orphans since we returned home with Lainie in 2007.  We weren't sure if God was calling us to adopt again or if there was some other orphan ministry he wanted us to be a part of.   Last July we had seen him work in our lives in ways that led us to another adoption.  This time we knew we would do the special needs route and we had requested to be considered for any girl aged 2-5.  So last July when I opened the three files in my e-mail, I quickly read through the info for the first two girls - they both fell within the age range, but I didn't feel drawn to either of them.  When I looked at the third file I didn't expect to find my daughter.  This little girl was already 6 1/2 years old.  But then, I saw her face......

and I knew she was ours.  Every single fear I ever had about older child adoption was absent from my mind in that moment.  Every single fear I had about adopting out of birth order was suppressed.  I can't explain it.  Two days earlier had you asked me about adopting an almost 7 year old I would have said - that isn't for us, that wouldn't be the right fit for our family.  Everything that made sense to me was turned upside down. I know it was God who kept those thoughts from my mind that day.  It was God who opened our hearts and our minds to this little girl.

Now, one year later when I watch her playing on the beach I am so thankful that we trusted Him despite our fears and our own plans for our family.  Mia has been home six months.  It has been quite the journey.  Layers of this precious girl's heart still peel away as time passes.   We still learn new things about her life in China every day as she begins to trust us enough to share her experiences there.  Just recently we learned a whole other side of the story of the grandmother's phone number saga that we didn't understand until now.

Daily I am amazed by this little girl who after all the trauma she has been through still choses to love life and others.  God is using her to write an amazing story of His grace.  My prayer is that one day she will be able to share all that God has done in her life in a way that gives Him glory, honor and praise.

And the rest of our family - one year later.....
I'm so proud of all my kids.  They've accepted another child as a sister.  They haven't missed a beat.  From the first moment they met her, they have loved her and treated her like she has been here forever.  That is a miracle too.  Adoption, every single aspect of it, is a miraculous event.  One that can only be orchestrated through Him.  I look at the picture below and can hardly believe this is my family.  So different from what I ever planned.  There are certainly more people in the picture that I ever thought there would be.... and a few of them look quite different that what I would ever have dreamed....  but is this picture more beautiful than anything I had ever dreamed myself?  YES.