This is my late Thanksgiving Day entry. I was preoccupied with food prep and conversation with Jeff and the girls before we left the house for our family get together at Mom's house so I never made it to my computer. But we have so much to be thankful for that I don't want to let the opportunity pass to review all we have so graciously been given.
On Wednesday, Nov. 23 I received an e-mail from CCAI that began,
CONGRATULATIONS, Jeff & Laurie! Your dossier was sent to China today!
My first item of Thanksgiving! It will be at least a few weeks before we receive our LID, the adoption world term for "Logged In Date." Even though our dossier may be in China even now, (3-5 days estimate,) the LID is when the CCAA(China Center for Adoption Affairs) actually puts us into their computer and our dossier goes into "the stack." My mental image of the rest of the process goes something like this. Somewhere in China there is a giant stack of parent/family dossiers from around the world and a giant stack of baby records. The family dossiers must sit in this pile for at least six months, apparently for some sort of aging process. Then, at long last, when the dossier is at it's peak, some nice Chinese person takes one off of each stack, putting a giant rubber band around the two of them and placing them into the "new family" stack.
I will say there is a bit of reality to this but mostly mental imagery on my part. I've seen pictures of the matching room and there are huge stacks of brightly colored folders. But I don't think they shove them together willy-nilly. There is much mystery about the criteria used to match the children to the dossiers and it does at times appear to be very arbitrary. In our opinion God is making sure the right babies go to the right families but I'm pretty sure that is NOT the answer you'd get from the CCAA workers. Interestingly, all the pictures we attach to our dossiers, which each family has so carefully posed for and chosen for how great we look, never make it into the matching room. This is a complete mystery to me. Just what did they want them for? My understanding is the person actually making the matches sees only the parent's passport photos. With this in mind, Jeff and I are certain they do not match by looks. We would never have been matched with such a beautiful little girl as Mara. Yet we have noted, just in our travel group there are several families where the babies look eerily like one parent or a sibling. One of our travel group friends has mentioned more than once how much she thinks Mara and Katelynn look alike. Their personalities are certainly extraordinarily similar.
Other things I am thankful for. I have been blessed with four beautiful daughters--so far. Though God took our beautiful Kelsey home to be with him almost 3 years ago, we find it a blessing that we have Nikki who carries a little piece of Kelsey with her always. And because of Nikki we were not shut out of the life Kelsey would have also been living were she with us today. I think how much harder it would be if I were only watching, from the outside, all of the activities of these very busy high school years. While I still often wistfully wonder what activities Kelsey would have chosen and how she would have experienced these years, we are still a part of the high school scene. Not only that, but Nikki herself is such a great kid and is so much fun around the house. She is a good student, a responsible employee, an accomplished singer, (a member of the All-State Choir,) and a godly young woman who is seeking what God has for her future as she decides which college she should attend next year.
I shared what a blessing Katelynn is to me on her birthday entry. She is so precious to us and we are so glad she was able to join us for the Thanksgiving weekend. Mara loves to have Katelynn home and sticks to her like glue.
Samara is a wonderful new addition to our family as I also talked about on her birthday entry. Since her second birthday she has continued to amaze us with her quick intelligence and a wonderful sense of humor. Her most recent accomplishment is potty training. Though a bit stubborn about it at first, she completed it in record time and even stays dry overnight from time to time. Her language is moving ahead by leaps and bounds and we can almost always understand every word of her complete sentences.
Jeff is a great husband who is always quick to forgive my angry outbursts and stubborn insistences. He tells me many times a day that he loves me and he clearly cherishes each of his girls so very much. This last summer he went above and beyond with his dedication to completing the landscaping, all by himself.
And, of course, we know God is taking care of our new little girl in China right now. I don't know what she looks like, how old she is, or where her orphanage is but I know she will be perfect for our family. It is hard to wait to bring her home but it is good to rest in the Lord knowing he is meeting all of her needs, whatever they are. He is preparing her to know us and love us when she meets us. And we already love her.
There are many other blessings in our lives, most especially extended family and good friends. Since last Thanksgiving we have met 14 families around the country when we traveled (safely I might add,) to China to pick up Samara. We have been able to keep close contact with a few of those and casual contact with the rest, and have enjoyed three get togethers with various members since our return. We have been given many material blessings as well, our comfortable home being foremost in my mind the last few years. This year we've had time and money to furnish and decorate a bit more, so now it is even more fun than when we moved in. By Christmas, when we get to host family, we hope to have the finishing touches done which make a house a home. (Jeff is scurrying around right now measuring for those window coverings we have put off for much too long.)
We thank and praise the Lord for his presence and work in our lives. He has done for us more than we could ever have asked or imagined.
