Tentative Travel Dates

We received a tentative travel date to China : Nov 19 to Dec 3. We will first tour Beijing for 3 days, and then travel to JiangSu, Pearl's province, where we will finally meet our precious Pearl! After we picked her up, we will fly to GuangZhou to complete all the paper work. As we are preparing for our trip and Pearl's home coming, we are so overwhelmed with joy to see how God is faithfully providing all our needs through families and friends. After our three children, we always thought we are "done". In addition, we moved two times in the past three years, so we gave away every single baby items we could. Little did we know, God has a different plan. Here we are, going back to "diaper" stage! :-) We had no baby item at all and a very limited budget to buy, we put all our needs in our prayers. Today, we have almost everything thing we need. So far, the only items we actually bought was a used crib for $40 from Craigslist, a new pink outfit as a gift to our precious new daughter, and a cute undershirt San picked out, with the words "Born to be a Princess" on the front! We feel so blessed to have the privilege to be Pearl's MaMa and Daddy. She has already bought us so much joy since our referral in July.

I have been reading the book "Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections". There is a quote by Jaclyn Champnella, an adoptee adopted at age 4, really touched my heart. Jaclyn said, "When I lived in China I wished for only one thing - a MaMa. If you wish for too many things your heart aches." This statement probably represents the voice of many orphans. Every time I think of these little girls, especially the ones with special needs or deformity, who have no one to call MaMa or Daddy, no one to go to when they feel hurt or sad, and no one to tell them they were created from the image of God, and that they are precious and beautiful in every way, my heart aches. It is our prayer that this trip will make a lasting impression on our children - to give them a new world-view perspective in life and to motivate them to find and pursue the God-given passion and purpose. I always tell them (as my kids call I "lecture" them!) that I want them to be successful in life, not that they can enjoy a good life, but so that they can be in an influential position to make a difference, to touch other people's lives. I don't know how much this is sticking in their heads(doesn't seem much now! ha,ha..). I just hope that one day, all these "lectures" will come to sense in their heads, and see them take off to serve with their lives.