God is Awesome!!

Today, I received an email from a wonderful woman in Orlando. It is too much to explain, so I am going to past it below: - 2 emails, actually! Long, but definitely worth the read:

Hi Regina,

What a cutie! Congratulations!! What a surprise to look at a couple of your pictures and see the same background that is in my daughter's photos. Actually, I have been trying to find you :) Your daughter's foster mother has been hoping I could.. She doesn't speak English, but a friend of hers (who you have probably seen posts about on this list), May Miller, does translations. They were best friends when May lived in China a couple of years ago. May just got back from visiting her recently and she probably spent some time with your child. Her info is in the files section if you want to read more about her - under "translator". She could help you all communicate if you don't have someone else. She was hoping we could be in contact after you brought your daughter home. My daughter, Leah, came home in Feb. 2005 at the age of 35 months. She had lived with her foster mother for two years. She was their first foster child. Where do you all live? We are in Orlando.

You will be thrilled at how well prepared your daughter will be for your arrival. We couldn't have hoped for any more. It was obvious that Leah's foster mother did a wonderful job raising her. She was a little (to say the least) spoiled, but other than that....we were so happy with how she had been taught to be kind to others, thoughtful, etc. She came right home and started helping around the house...folding clothes, straightening....it was truly amazing. Too bad that didn't last very long ;) She had been taught many manners which we thought were far beyond where many kids her age were. Know that your daughter is being loved and cared for by one of the best foster mother's in China! Her husband passed away while my daugher was living with her. His parents live close and she is very close to them. They seemed extremely close to my daughter, too. She also has a daughter who is grown, but goes home often. She loves these little ones, too. She wrote to our daughter, Leah last week and this is what she said about your daughter:

"I want to let you know we have a smart and lovely baby in our family; her personality is very similar to yours. Her name is Guo Si Qi; soon she will be adopted and live in the USA too."

Have you been in contact with them yet? I am not sure how your agency feels about contact ahead of time. Many are very strict. Will this be your first adoption from China? I sure don't want to get you in trouble. I would love to hear more about you and your family. I look forward to reading your blog when I get a little free time.

Well, have a great day!

Hi again,

I just took a few minutes to read more of your blog! I just had to write to say that I am thrilled to see that you are Christians!! As of last year...Leah's foster mother didn't believe, but the seeds have definitely been planted. She worked with Mother's Love - an orphanage in Nanning that deals more with special needs babies now - until very recently. The director, Kit Ying, and many of her staff are Christian and I know that JingYan was exposed to it alot. Leah and I pray every night for her to accept Christ. Her friend, May, is a Christian.

The feeling we had during our first trip to China when we went to our older daugher's city of Kunming was really different than when we visited Nanning. I really believe that there are many Christians in Nanning. We did not sense that in Kunming at all. I hope you have a wonderful time...I know you just can't wait!

Your story sounds a lot like ours...with our older daughter. Originally on the nsn track, looked at our agency's waiting children list just to pass the time and found our daughter's chubby little face looking at us. Isn't God good?
The second time around we just went straight to the special needs lists and found Leah....

Do you think if I get a small package together for JingYan that you could take it to her when you travel? I promise it wouldn't be big at all.