Valerie Day

As a handful of you know, we received a video of Valerie 2 months ago (at the beginning of August).  This was great news, we had no information about her except a photo and a brief medical history of her life for the last few years.  We watched the video and delighted in being able to see her and hear her speak.  As we continued to watch her on the screen, we had some questions.  We had a few people watch the video and they said that she did not act like a typical 10 year old, her speech was not smooth and they were concerned about some of her actions.

There were reasons why she acted this way we said, she has been in an orphanage for years.  But the doubts flooded in.  We had not told anyone about Valerie's medical information.  People thought that we were crazy to adopt again, especially a ten year old.  Top that with some medical "issues" and we would never have heard the end of it.  We also felt that her medical information should remain private, nobody knows everything about YOUR child's history do they? 

 So when our friends who watched the video voiced these concerns, we became fearful.

Don't get me wrong, we never intended to stop the adoption, but the  thoughts of having to rethink the whole dynamics of our family hit us.  We prayed for God to remain in control, for the Holy Spirit to ease our concerns and to give us peace as we proceeded.

Three weeks later, we received another video of Valerie.  A video of a school performance.  Now remember, we have had no photos or any updates in the last year and a half, and we get another video!  The kids from the orphanage had gotten up on stage to dance.  There she was, in the back row, doing all of the dance moves.  She did each movement correctly as she watched the "teacher" in front of her.  Not only that, but she was on beat and ridiculously cute! 

Fast forward to China:  

We traveled to China and have been having a wonderful time.  Beijing was amazing.  We enjoyed our time away from everything, including emails and facebook, etc. 

We ran into another couple at the airport in Beijing who have been having some tough times.  Their parents were supposed to travel with them, and the day before they were to board the plane for China, her mom was in the emergency room and admitted to the hospital.  She was unable to travel with them.  

We have been thankful that we have just enjoyed every minute here in China. No bumps in the road for us.

Once we arrived in Chongqing, where our daughter is, we wanted to let everyone know that we were doing great.

The hotel here has Internet service in your room. 

 We began to update our blog and fill everyone in on the excitement and fun of our first several days.  

Then I checked our email.  I was surprised!  We had received an email with pictures of Valerie and a short note.  The email said that she had been in a great foster home and that she would probably like to have these photos to remember her home and time in China. 

We knew that she had been in a foster home so that she could attend school.  We thought that she had been there for almost two years.  

The photos showed a five year old little girl with pigtails, arms wrapped around her mamma's leg. 

 She looked hesitant to have her photo taken and was obviously scared of the "strangers" that had come to her home.   

 

The landscape surrounding her house was breathtaking!  Mountains, lush green grass, water.

Five years and five months with this family.  She is clearly attached to them.  

Why does she have to leave them?

How can we take her away from ALL that she has ever known?

I do not understand.  

My heart breaks for her.

My heart breaks for her family.

Our youngest daughter Rachel has been home with us for six years and five months.  It seems like she has been with us forever.  She is our daughter.  

 

Lord help me to understand, help me to see the big picture?  I lay here at 3:00am in the morning crying for this child, crying for her family.

If times become hard for the foster family, will they no longer be able to take care of her?

Will she be like one of the people I spoke about in the previous post http://meetthemeades.blogspot.com/2013/10/no-pictures.html. " No Photos"?

I pray for God to help me to know, help me to see, help me to understand. To make this easy!

What I should pray for is faith.  FAITH is  confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

So I pray for faith.  I pray for confidence that this is what The Lord is asking us to do.  I pray for assurance in Him, knowing that He ultimately knows what is best.

There were so many times that we could have stopped the adoption  process, so many times that doubts crept in.   The extremely long wait for LOA.  http://meetthemeades.blogspot.com/2013/08/we-are-moving.html. It absolutely made us think maybe we should rethink what we are doing.  Perhaps this delay is God giving us time to change our mind.  But in this waiting period, we grew in our faith and made friendships and bonds with others who were also having doubts during the long wait.

Each and every time there were doubts about this adoption, there were bigger confirmations for us  to continue.  Confirmations that only God could have orchestrated. 

Dear Lord,

I am thankful for your love and guidance through this journey.  I am thankful for the people that you have place in our path to give us strength and to help us build our faith through this process of waiting.  This journey has been filled with extreme highs and times of doubt and anxiety.  I pray that as we continue with this journey, this day that will forever remain one that will change our family, that it will also be one that will change the future of Your Eternal family.

Amen.