I’d like to introduce y’all to someone kinda special.
Meet Miss Magnolia Jane, our daughter.
I know, I can hardly stand it. Seriously.
Now for the story, because I’m guessing you’re probably curious. And the truth is, it’s a story worth telling because it’s not our story. It’s His. I’m not going to share it all today, but I want to share some. The rest, eventually.
Its roots were laid down months and months ago, probably around the time we met our sweet Clementine in China. So frail. So ill. And even sicker on the inside than we could have ever imagined at the time. She was truly just a pneumonia away from dying because of her undiagnosed (and completely unexpected) tracheal deformity.
We brought her home and, as I’ve chronicled relentlessly regularly here, she’s just done all kinds of growing. The best, and most amazing kind – inside and outside and everything in between. And since her surgery this summer (to repair her heart and reconstruct her trachea) she’s taken the growing thing to a whole new level. It’s truly been incredible.
And the truth is, we could have missed her. We were scared, focusing only on what we thought made us less-than-perfect parents: not young, not $45K sitting in savings, not a small family, and not oodles of free time to devote to a child with more complex special needs.
But we were just what she needed, and right when she needed it most – despite us. Because He was doing what only He can: sending the imperfect and equipping the not-so-well-equipped.
Our age? Pfffft. She honestly makes us feel 10 years younger. I have never laughed as much as I have in the last year. The funds to bring her home? Well, y’all. Honestly, one of the most incredible outpourings I’ve ever witnessed. The small family bit? Turns out Miss Clementine absolutely thrives on having lots of brothers and sisters to love her to bits. Our speech therapist recently commented on her surprising progress and what a nurturing environment our little homeschooling clan provides. Another God thing to add to the ever-growing list.
The reality is that there are lots of children like Clementine. Truly in need of someone completely devoted and dedicated to their well-being, their health and their future. Just waiting to blossom like crazy.
There are an estimated 153,000,000 orphans world-wide, with close to 1,000,000 of those estimated to be in China alone. While awareness has been raised for orphans, and families are coming forward for them, the number of adoptions continues to decline. In 2014, just 2000 children were adopted from China.
So many still wait. Not needing a perfect family, just a family willing to say Yes.
So when we felt the Lord pricking our hearts again, we simply said Yes. We took a tentative step, and another. And two months ago today we got a phone call from our agency asking us if we’d be interested in reviewing the file of a little one with a complex heart defect.
We said Yes again. And again.
We hope to travel for her in late spring.
Miss Magnolia has a heart defect similar to Esther’s, but more complicated. She has had several heart surgeries in China and will need several more – the next most likely to happen as soon as she is able to come home. So would you pray on her behalf? For her and her little heart? Y’all absolutely prayed Clementine home (and through tests, and surgeries and recoveries and everything else) – and I hope I can count on you to pray for Magnolia, too.
Thank you friends, for helping us welcome this precious little love into our family. We are overjoyed at the good things He has done – in our hearts and in our lives – since that first, frightened Yes we swore in a smoky provincial affairs office over 10 years ago when we adopted for the first time. To Him be the glory.
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18