The Past Week!

Okay, now to the past week. Last Wednesday (the 18th), I received an e-mail that the Special Needs list was available by e-mail (it is usually posted on the webpage). Because I recieved the e-mail at night, I knew other families would probably have already viewed the list before us and we might not be the 1st to request any child's information. In addition, there were no pictures which makes it hard to feel an emotional connection to a particular child.

We were sent the list Thursday morning. I forwarded it to Kirk and we went through it over the phone. You only receive a short paragraph about each child which includes their special need, the DOB, where they were found and a brief summary of their current situation. Kirk and I had narrowed the list down to about 5 little girls. I felt called to a little girl named Yi (last name) Mei Fei because we knew our daughter's middle name was going to be Mae and she was already Mei. We prayed about it and decided to request her medical info. We knew she had a facial deformity but had no idea what she would look like. Amazingly, we were the 1st family to request her info. so we received her picture (below). Well, I immediatley began falling in love with her sweet little face. We knew she would have some issues but felt like she belonged in our family.

On Friday we received a 2-page medical report that included her ht, wt, vision, etc. It looked like everything was normal so we planned to go ahead with her adoption (and I began shopping)!

On Tuesday, we had a friend who is a pediatrician review her chart (a requirement of our agency). He caught something we did not, her head size is very small. She is below the 3rd percentile for her age and this is a cause for great concern. My world crumbled. We began researching her condition and realized several things-

• It was possible that there was a mistake b/c so many children are measured and the workers are sometimes poorly trained.
• If there was a mistake, it only had to be off by 2cm to make her fall in the normal category.
• If this was accurate, we could be facing serious mental and behavioral issues.
• If this was accurate, she could still be fine.

We then were put in contact with a doctor that specializes in International Adoption. He was a God send! He has 2 special needs children from China himself and has consulted with many families. We asked lots of questions and he gave us honest answers about what we could face. Towards the end of the conversation, Kirk asked him if he would go ahead with the adoption. Without hesitation he said, "ABSOLUTELY!" He said he knew God would prepare him for what he was going to face. We didn't realize he was a Christian until this point. He then asked if he could pray with us. Of course, we did and God put the peace back in my heart that we were doing the right thing. Kirk had never waivered.

As of right now, we are waiting to see if we can get more information. We are hoping for a current measurement as well as a previous measurement to see how she has developed to better determine what her needs will be. Please keep praying for her and our family!

If all goes well, we hope to have her home before Thanksgivng!

Please keep praying for her and our family!