Pretty Pearl

Introducing our beautiful daughter Xia Jin Zhu.

Pearl at age 2.

Pearl in April 2011.  Age 3

She is 3.5 years old and is waiting for us in China. Her Chinese names mean "Pretty Pearl" and since that name was so sweetly chosen for her in China, we've decided to keep Pearl as part of her name. Not sure yet if it will be her first or middle name, but our agency did refer to her as Pearl, so it does have significant meaning to us.   This is what her orphanage had to say in describing her.  "This is Pearl, a young girl who suffers from a heart defect, and is delicate, but is quiet and sensible and adorable."

The story of how we came to this point is yet again a story of God's moving in our lives. I'll be sharing it in pieces here in the days to come. One of the smallest, yet largest confirmations of all, came on May 16th. This was the final day we had to decide whether or not we would adopt Pearl. I opened my devotional book that morning and the title was: Mother of Pearl. It talked all about how pearls are formed and how the Bible talks about their value. We emailed our agency that day and began the paperwork.
I'll admit, even after we said yes, I was still a bit caught up in what it was going to cost us, financially and otherwise, to bring her home. Then, just a few days later, a dear friend reminded me of the parable of "The Pearl of Great Price." She sent me a wonderful devotion containing this parable. That is what brought about my blog post on May 31st. I think it is fitting to repeat some words from that post here today.......

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price” Matthew 13:45-46.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”


Pearls in the ancient world came to represent the supremely valuable. Why would a mercant sell everything for a pearl? No doubt because he was attracted to what he thought was the greatest treasure he could possess. Discovering God's kingdom is like stumbling across hidden treasure or finding the one pearl of great price. When we discover the kingdom of God we receive the greatest possible treasure -- the Lord himself. Selling all that we have to obtain this incomparable treasure could mean many things -- our friends, job, our "style of life", what we do with our free time. . If the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, then you will delight yourself in the Almighty (Job 22:22-23). Is the Lord the treasure and delight of your heart?

We will walk this journey one step of faith at a time. Totally trusting that He will be by our side every single step of the way. Our only desire is to bring Him glory through the journey. We are grateful for all of your prayers and encouragement along the way.