A rose by any other name...

Early in this adoption process, Todd and I said that we wanted our future daughter to have some input on her name...whether to keep her Chinese name or not, and if so, whether to use it as her first or middle name.

Then we found our daughter.  Her name was Rissa in the shared list.  We thought that was awesome sign because we have a daughter named Riza.  We learned that our daughter's Chinese name was Yuerong.

We waited on deciding about her name, hoping we would have some contact with her, but we didn't.  Finally it came time to fill out some official paperwork and we had to make a decision.  After prayer and discussion, we decided to keep her first name as Yuerong and add Hope as her middle name.  She has been called Yuerong for a long time, so we wanted to keep something familiar.  We weren't sure how to pronounce her name :) but we were willing to call her by her first or middle name.

Then we got an e-mail from her.  She asked us if we had decided on her name.  She wanted to know if she would be able to choose her name.  She asked if her name could be Davina.

When I read the e-mail, I sat in wonder with so many emotions.  Glad to hear from our daughter.  Happy that she felt comfortable to ask.  Curious about why she chose that name.  So we asked.

This is the response we received:

"she knew the name meant 'to be loved'"

Wow.

So our sweet, beautiful daughter, who is deeply loved already, will be named Davina.  And we will be finally able to love her, hug her, and begin to know her in 5 days.  5 days. 

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!  1 John 3:1

Plans and planes and pictures :)

We have a plan!!

We have a plane (ticket)!!

And, we received the most beautiful pictures and LETTER from our daughter!!

I'll start with the most fun news first.

This morning I got up first.  I almost always do.  I need some quiet and coffee before the craziness and noise of the day starts.  I have a routine.  I start the water for my french press and then I check my e-mail.  I'm barely awake, but the computer is next to the kitchen, so its something to do while I wait for the water to boil.

When I opened my inbox, there was an e-mail from Karla, one of our amazing Lifeline social workers.  I had e-mailed her a couple of questions yesterday, so I wasn't surprised to see it.  So, I clicked on it and...

THERE WERE NEW PICTURES OF OUR DAUGHTER!!!

 And not only that...

THERE WAS A LETTER FROM OUR DAUGHTER!!!

So, of course I was sobbing and I ran down and awakened poor Todd who was sleepy, disoriented and confused and concerned about me.  The first thing I said was "Its o.k., these are happy tears."  Then I told him and of course he rushed to the computer to see the e-mail, too.

She told us a little about herself.  We love having this glimpse into our daughter.

She said that she loves the ocean.  We CANNOT WAIT to take her to the ocean!!

She said, "Mama (I LOVE THAT!!), I can cook chinese and I can help you cook."

What a great way to start the day!!

And, just to help the day along...today I bought our airline tickets.  Todd, Savanna, and I leave on Sunday, May 5 (which happens to be Audrey's 19th birthday, so it will be a bittersweet day).  Todd and Savanna return the following Monday.  Hope and I will return about 9 days later.

Oh, and let me tell you about our tickets.  We are flying out of Tallahassee--if you don't live here, you probably have no idea what a big deal that is.  For being a state capitol, we don't have very good air service.  But, we are flying in and out of our hometown.  Not only that, but our tickets were about $1000 less PER TICKET than we had expected!!  Thank You, GOD.

Tonight we go to Good Friday service.  Riza has recently accepted the Lord and will take her first communion.  The whole family will be in church together (that never happens because our teens usually go to church at a different time than we do).  We will be focusing on the amazing, breathtaking sacrifice that Christ made for us.  And I will try my very best to be solemn and worshipful, but all day today, I have had a hard time not breaking into a huge smile and even chuckling a little when I think about our new daughter and the wonderful way my day started.  So, if you are at church tonight and hear me giggle, just try to be understanding...and maybe even give a little cough to help cover my laugh :)

Psalm 48
⁹ O God, we meditate on your unfailing love
    as we worship in your Temple.
¹⁰ As your name deserves, O God,
    you will be praised to the ends of the earth.

Holding Pattern

So...the exciting news is that we have Travel Approval!  That means that China says that it is o.k. if we come to China for the purpose of adopting Hope.

This is a huge step.  After Travel Approval comes an application for a Consulate Appointment.  This is the final step before we can make travel plans.  The Consulate Appointment in China is important because the embassy will issue a visa so that Hope can enter the USA.

Actually, we have a Consulate Appointment, too.  Which means we should be booking flights and packing.

But we aren't.  Because we have hit a snag.  Because of Hope's medical history, she has a high risk of being a TB carrier.  Because of her age, she may be required to have a TB test which involves a culture that takes 6-8 weeks for the results.

Oh, and did I mention that she turns 14 on May 13.  We MUST adopt her before she turns 14.

We don't know how this will play out.  We do know that we have an awesome agency, Lifeline, working diligently on our behalf to determine the best plan of action.  We also have the assurance from our social worker Karla that she will not let Hope age out.  She is our daughter.  We will get this done.

And most of all, we know that God loves Hope deeply.  He has promised to set the lonely in families and He will work to bring Hope home.  We are waiting and trusting to see how this will work out.

So, what do we do while we wait?  Work in a circus, turn into mermaids and eat ice cream, of course!

My mom and I took my two little girls on a short trip down to the Tampa area for Spring Break.  As I will be away from them a couple of weeks during our trip to China, it was really nice to be able to spend some special time with them.  We had a great time :)

It was a fun distraction, as we continue to wait...

Psalm 62:5

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.

Latest Pictures!

So...after checking my e-mail about 1000 times a day (give or take a couple of thousand), we finally got an update on Hope. We have four new pictures that we are enjoying...trying to get a glimpse of her personality, her likes, her style :)

These make us even more ready to go get her.  And, on a side note, assuming these pictures were taken in Guangzhou, we are really looking forward to being there.  It looks beautiful!  And I don't know where the picture of her standing on the bridge was taken, but I hope that we can find it while we are there--it looks really cool!

After we got the pictures, we headed to Build a Bear.
Our friend Jennifer helped us record the girls saying in Chinese:
Audrey:  I am your big sister
Savanna:  I am the next sister
Yuly:  I am the big little sister
Riza:  I am the little sister
All:  We love you.

(I had bought the recorder from build a bear and we did that part at home).  Jennifer told us that birth order is very important and this was a great way for the girls to introduce themselves.  At the mall, Yuly and Riza gave wishes to the hearts (actually, I had taken hearts to Todd, Audrey and Savanna to rub on their hearts and to kiss so there are 6 hearts in this bear!).  In the picture the girls are rubbing the hearts on their feet so their sister will be TOE-Tally awesome :)  Then the girls picked out clothes and dressed the bear.  Can't wait to deliver the bear to Hope!  SOON!