5 months

it's been 5 wonderful months since we have been home from china...prior to going to china i'd read several books...talked to several people who had adopted before...read hundreds of blogs (it seemed like hundreds at least)...most of the stories were very good results with some minor bumps in the road...2 families had to put there children into an institution because of the neglect they experienced prior to being adopted each of these families stories went to my inner most core...i had many sleepless nights after hearing their stories...they both are strong christian women who said God has us in our girls lives for a reason...one family chose to adopt again the other did not...these two mom's are amazing women and i admire them both very much...my goal and intentions was to obtain as much information from those who had gone before and read as much as i could to be prepared for the good bad and the ugly...i would journal my prayers & thoughts daily...i did know that not all of it would apply to our family and emma lael...praying some of the stories would NEVER apply to emma lael or our family....most of the information was about how to adjust your life with a new child and prompting bonding and attachment...preparing your marriage and children for the new life that God has gracious trusted us with...how important it is for an infant to have all their needs met immediately this is what creates a sense of love, security, bonding & attachments...i chose to read books that had a positive spin on adoption...i again, chose to only focus on the good...not allowing satan to place doubts in my head...i would pray daily asking God to prepare emma lael heart knowing that God was the only One who could place peace in her heart....take away her fear replacing it with trusts...letting her know how much we had prayed for HER and for God to bring us the child that needed our family the most....God knocked it out of the ball park with ms emma lael she fits PERFECT!!
new day (the foster home emma lael was at) prepares the children very well to be adopted...they allow the adoptive parents to skype weekly...we skyped emma lael 17 times prior to meeting her...we would walk around the house showing her all the rooms in our house...we'd have ruby & sisco (our dogs) skype with us each week so she knew we had 2 dogs...she knew what her bedroom looked like when we came home on october 1, 2010 we took her to her bedroom she pointed to her crib and smiled...i think she remembered it from the skype sessions....she knew our faces and voices she was familiar with us...of course, she is 3 and it still would be a surprise when she first saw the people from the computer standing in front of her...i believe that this is one reason emma lael had done so well bonding and adjusting to her new life...she knew what to expect...15 days prior to us arriving in china her pre school teacher (love her) made a calender and she'd place a sticker on each day on the day we would arrive they had put our families picture so she knew when she put a sticker on that day she'd meet us...everyday at school she would be shown the photo book we'd sent and they would talk with emma lael about her family and that she was coming to live in america....the pre school class all participate in this with emma lael...THANK YOU new day for all you do for the precious children in your care...we could never thank you enough for all you did for emma lael.

i am so HAPPY to say that emma lael came to us with a heart that knew what being loved felt like...thanks to her wonderful foster parents.
a heart that is joyful
a heart that will pull your heart strings :)
a heart that is open to love and being loved
a heart that is pure
a heart this is unique
a heart that is beautiful
a heart that is listening to God
a heart that is miraculous
a heart that filled with LOVE
a heart that is happy
a heart that was born with 4 defects but is now HEALED
as she says her prayers at night i am reminded how much Jesus loves the little children.

Jesus loves all the little children
all the children of the world
they are yellow black and white
they are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

as you say your prayers please say a prayer for all the 147 million orphans who wait for a family...how many of these orphans have never heard of Jesus...i'd say quit a few, unfortunately...let's PRAY for them all.