When we first started the paperwork for this adoption, in August 2011, I signed up to view the photolisting of waiting children on our agency's website. There were rows and rows of little faces, with brief biographical information and a list of each child's special needs. This was very difficult, because we have never adopted a waiting child. I was very worried as I looked at so many precious little faces. How would I know which child was ours? One little girl's picture jumped out at me. I can't explain the feeling any better way than to say that she looked familiar, on some deep level. I looked at her age and list of needs, and I kept looking. I didn't think I could give her what she needed. Every time I logged on, I would stop and look at her picture, and think to myself, "if only my kids were a little older, so I could adopt her." I eventually got her file from our agency. I was torn between a deep desire to have her as my daughter, and fear that I couldn't handle being her mom. Here is the first picture I saw:
In her file, we got this picture:
Isn't she precious? You can see her little bent feet. I knew her name would be Therese, because this picture reminded me so much of a picture of St. Therese, the Little Flower. It took a week or so for us to pray on it, but we decided to take the leap of faith and adopt this little girl. No matter if she can catch up with other children her age, she can be loved in a family.
In November we got an updated photo. I can't calculate how much time I spent staring at this photo, trying to see how she was doing, trying to look into her pictured eyes to see if her little spirit was all right. I spent a lot of time when I should have been sleeping, praying for her. I worried so much about this little girl. She was almost 4 years old and was barely 19 pounds. Her height put her in the 2T clothing size range, just barely, but her weight was in the 6-12 month category.
In May of this year, we were able to get some updated photos of her, and she had some hair and had gained quite a bit of weight. It was such a relief! I almost didn't recognize her, with hair and plumper.
Her Chinese name is Lan Shi Wu, which means, "I am an orchid," or "an orchid am I." She lives in far northwest China, on the Yellow River. The province is not one that does very many adoptions, so it will be an interesting experience to visit there next month. I am preparing myself for a traumatic few days when we first meet her. The orphanage does not tell the children ahead of time that they are going to be adopted. She has probably never seen an American before in her life, and will just be handed off to a strange blonde woman who will be trying really hard not to cry too much and scare her even more. I can't wait to give her pretty clothes and hairbows and let her know how much she is loved.
