a momentous occasion

July 30, 2013

a momentous occasion

Today has been a momentous day for multiple reasons.

First, it is exactly one year ago today that we first saw Madeleine CaiQun’s file. That file contained precious few words and seemingly more questions than answers. And yet, through it, there began to take shape in our minds an image of a little girl. And the bottom line for us became that this little girl needed a family, and it seemed possible that we could be that family for her. We knew she could come to us with undisclosed needs, be they physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. We knew that the image of this child that our minds were beginning to form could be accurate or not. We didn’t know what the consequences for our lives and Miranda’s life and her life would be if we were to move forward with pursuing her adoption (or not). But we knew she needed a family. We believed we could be that family, that we could care for her and nurture her and love her and that there would likely be overwhelming and scary moments but that God would carry us through, and we committed to moving forward with adding her to our family.

And oh how God has blessed us through this little girl! Each of us is being challenged and is growing in new ways. She brings so much joy to our lives and to our family. Today, as I snuggled with her at naptime, I told her, “Mei mei, Mama loves you.” She smiled back up at me and said, “Yeah, Mama love mei mei,” followed quickly by, “And Baba love mei mei! And jie jie love mei mei!” Yes, sweet girl, we all love you so, so much.

 

Today was also momentous in that we were able to reunite our little CaiQun with her former cribmate from her time at her orphanage.

Obviously at this age, the girls’ time together was not exactly composed of intimate, soul-baring conversations, but CaiQun did seem to remember Lily, and we hope that it will be an encouragement to her as she gets older to have this relationship from her past.

 

And last, but not least, tonight was the first night that our little mei mei asked to pray at bedtime. Each night, as Matt and I put the girls to bed, one of us will pray for the girls and for our night and anything else on our hearts. Occasionally Miranda will tell us that she wants to pray, too, which we always love, and tonight CaiQun announced that she would pray, and we got to hear her sweet little voice addressing God – beautiful. We are so thankful to have her as part of our family.

 

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