If...

So the recordable storybook we sent Lily for her birthday was SO PERFECT.

I was so fortunate to find it too!  I thought Hallmark was the only company who sold recordable books, so when I saw some at Books A Million I was pleasantly surprised....and was OVER THE MOON to see that they were on sale for $10!!!  This was a STEAL, people!!!

I want to share the book with you {which is probably against copyright laws but I'm hoping that since I'm putting the author's name, that will help me out in a court of law :-)}

IF

By Frank Boylan

I wish I was there. I wish I was with you.

I want to play the games we play and do the things we do.

I am not there now. This is just one of those days.

But know that we can be together in many different ways.

Think really hard, and imagine I am there.

Imagine I am holding your hand.

Imagine I am stroking your hair.

Imagine I am doing the things I really wish I could.

Know that I want to do them.

If I was there I would…

HUG YOU!

If I was there right now,

Do you know what I would do?

I would stretch my arms out really wide

And then wrap them tight around you.

TELL YOU I LOVE YOU!

If I was there right now,

Do you know what I would say?

I would say that we should be together every single day.

I would tell you that I love you,

And you make my heart feel light.

I would tell you that I love you,

Each and every single night.

SMILE!

If I was there right now,

Do you know what you would see?

You would see me smiling ear-to-ear,

Because you were smiling with me.

LAUGH!

If I was there right now,

Do you know how hard we would laugh?

We would laugh until our sides hurt,

Like we were going to split in half.

You would tell me funny stories,

And I would listen with both ears.

I would laugh until my eyes were wet

And filling up with tears.

DANCE!

If I was there right now,

Do know how wild we would dance?

We would dance like we were crazy people,

And wouldn’t even glance

To see who was watching us,

Or what those watchers might say.

We would dance until our worries flew off

And our cares just ran away.

SING!

If I was there right now,

Do you know how loud we would sing?

We would sing really loud and really long,

Like the birds all do in Spring.

We would sing the songs we like,

And the songs we love,

And the songs we hardly know.

And I would want to hold you tight

And never let you go.

I am not really there right now.

I’m in the pages of this book.

I hope in your mind that you can see me.

Close your eyes and look…

Do you see me…?

I see you…

~

PERFECTION, right?

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lily!!!

Dear Lily,

You are THREE years old today!!!

This morning when your brother woke up, I put him in the bed with me and your daddy and we sang "Happy Birthday" to you.

We are asking God that it be His will that you are home with us for your 4th birthday.....and many, many, many birthdays after that!

We've had your birthday banner hanging for a couple of weeks now.

And although we mailed your birthday present 2 weeks ago, it still hasn't made it to you yet :( I'm hoping it will get to you by the end of next week though.

We sent you...
- A photo pillow with a picture of your family on it. If it's safe, I hope it can stay in your crib with you so you can look at us every day and know that you have a family who loves you.
- A recordable book entitled "If..." that me and your Daddy read to you so that you can get used to hearing our voices
- 2 disposable cameras that your nannies can use to take pictures of you while we're working to come get you
- A rainbow birthday card that plays the song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
- Some lip balm. I noticed in a few of the pictures we have of you that your lips were a bit chapped. Every girl needs a little lipstick! :)
- A photo album with individual pictures of your family members and your new house. I labeled each picture in Chinese so that your nannies can better help you know who everyone is.
- A Dora the Explorer Light Spinner. One of Mommy's friends saw you a couple of months ago and noticed that you didn't track things very well with your eyes.  I said, "Not a problem. We got that one!" Your brother doesn't track things well either, so we use a lot of "light therapy" to help him.  He's using his eyes SO MUCH BETTER now, so we're hoping that this little light toy will help your eyes improve too!

Lily-pie, we will never know the details that surround your birth. But we give thanks to God today for the three years of life He has breathed into you; for your birth mom who chose to give you life; and for the individuals who have cared for you these 3 years. While we are still quite dependent on others to help us take care of you right now, we anticipate with great joy the day when we will have the gift of being able to love and care for you in person.

You are a treasure to us, sweet girl.

The Words You Thought You'd Never Hear From Me

I've.

Joined.

(gulp)

Facebook.

Don't everyone gasp at once!

I almost feel like a traitor to my faithful anti-facebook friends, but, alas.....

the things you do for your kids.

This one's for you, Lily.

Y'all can actually thank my friends Leslie and Marcille for convincing me that using Facebook to get the word out about Lily's adoption and our upcoming fundraisers was a good idea. ;)

Truthfully, I've had a fb account for several years because I had to "like" I.O. Metro in order to get a $125 discount off a chair we bought there. I think that even my anti-facebook cohorts would agree that saving $125 was a worthwhile reason to join.

The only other reason I've used the account since then was so my friend Michelle could easily send me pictures she'd taken of our family.  So Michelle has been my one and only "friend" for a while now.

Then Miss Lily came along.

While researching her orphanage in China, I came across a family's blog. This family was also adopting a little girl who had lived in Lily's orphanage. I contacted Kelly, the author of the blog, and she said she was a part of a fb group of mama's who had adopted/were adopting from Lily's orphanage, so she asked me to join the group.

I joined this beautiful fb group of ladies and, honestly, words can never express what a blessing these girls have been to me over the past 3 months.

{I plan to write a post (or several!) about these wonderful families so stay tuned!}

Now it's time to spread the fb love because, despite our current "standstill" with China over Lily's health, we want to move forward with fundraising.

I'm praying that fb will help us cast a wider net --- and not just to help us raise money but also help us raise awareness about the need there is for orphans to have forever families to love them.

I'm still a little wary of the whole fb thing, so if I don't know you, I probably won't be your friend...

But if you're already my friend in real life, go to fb and ask me to be your friend.

{That all sounds SO STUPID, by the way - HA!}

And for no reason at all, other than the fact that he's so utterly cute, I'm posting a pic of my li'l man :)

Practicing turning pages in my book

Mommy, you're so silly!

Love y'all!
Elaine

She Made It!!!

We got word today that Lily has made it to the medical care center!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

This is the second time I've gotten news about Lily while at Wal-Mart - I bet those people think I'm Cuh-RAY-zee!!!

That's the only news we got, but I've been praying so much for Lily today --- that she handled the long drive well; is adjusting to sleeping in her new bed; and is loving her new nannies.

It is already Wednesday morning in China. I have no idea if today will be the day that the doctors will start running tests and making assessments about her health.

I hope so. But I'm so nervous about it all.

I wish I could be with her so badly.

I literally want to run to her.

And trust me.....I ain't never wanted to run nowhere ;)

Love,
Elaine

The Great Unknown...Where Feet May Fail

My previous post was written on Februrary 18th.

The very next day I received a phone call that caused me to remove it from this blog.

I re-posted it today....but we are in need of some intercessors for our sweet Lily.

On February 18th, I had gotten word that our home study was being submitted for a final check to our adoption agency - GREAT NEWS!!!

The CCCWA (China's Center for Adoption Affairs) had given us pre-approval to adopt Lily in December and now we were being given the stamp of approval by the powers-that-be in America: 

We were in the clear! We are fit to be Lily's parents. WooHoo!

I was feelin' good about things so I decided it was time to make our big announcement on the blog! :)

Less than 24 hours later, I got a phone call from our adoption agency:

They told us that Lily's health is deteriorating and the CCCWA is no longer allowing her to be adopted.

In between the long periods of silence when I couldn't speak because I was crying so hard, I managed to have a decent conversation with our case worker and got as much information as I could about the situation.

Lily's health is bad.

Doug and I knew this when we decided to adopt her.

We even knew her life might be short.

And the thought of burying another child makes my hands shake even as I type these words.

But, oooooohhhhh, dear friends.....

When you KNOW the Lord has spoken....

When you EXPERIENCE His peace when fear is gripping you....

You MUST say "Yes!" to the great unknown.

We said yes, and now things hang so delicately in the balance.

Lily is OUR daughter. 

Doug and I saw her face for the first time on November 9th, 2013.

Over the days that followed, as we prayed and sought the Lord's guidance about whether or not we should adopt her, I discovered a piece of my heart that I'd never felt before....

A piece that was created just for her.

And just as with all of my other children, I can't remember a time when she wasn't there....

It's as though she's always been in my heart.

But when I got that call, y'all.....

My feet failed.

I took my eyes off of God.

I forgot the truth of His character.

I felt like Doug and I had heard Him wrong.

I felt defeated.

I even took my blog post from the previous day off of the internet.

THANKFULLY, the Lord was gracious enough to quickly get a hold of my waning spirit, and, within 24 hours, my mind had been renewed as He reminded me of all the ways He has made known to us that we should walk this path toward adopting Lily.

SO.

What are we doing about this news?

#1 - We're praying. We're praying for Lily and her health. Please join us in praying for our little girl.

#2 - Our adoption agency has persuaded Lily's orphanage NOT to take her file from the CCCWA....yet. They've bought us a little time.

#3 - We are managing to get Lily transferred out of her orphanage and into a medical care center. As of today, Lily has not yet been transferred, but we expect to hear that she's been moved within the next day or two.

We are waiting (anxiously!) for her to make this move to the medical care center. Once there, doctors will re-examine her, run tests and, hopefully, be able to provide us with much more extensive information about her diagnosis and prognosis.

When we shared this news with our small group this weekend, they asked, "What can we pray for specifically?"

We landed on the word DISCERNMENT.

Please pray that the Lord will provide discernment to the doctors who examine Lily, our adoption agency, the CCCWA and our family - That's A LOT of people who are in need of some discernment, y'all. 

But just LOOK at the precious life these decisions will impact!

As always, thank you for your love and support!

Elaine

We're Expecting...

...a 3-year old! :)

Yes, friends, the Lord has led our family to embark on a new faith adventure: ADOPTION!!!

On November 9, 2013, we first laid eyes on a picture of a little girl in China who was in need of a forever family.

This cute li'l thing stirred our hearts.

The first picture we ever saw of our daughter

When Doug and I saw her picture and read about her situation, we contacted the adoption agency who had her file.

We had A LOT of questions, and they answered them.

We spoke to our doctors here in Jackson about her medical diagnosis, and they helped us understand her medical condition as best they could based on the old information that was provided to us.

Over the course of the days that followed, we knew that the Lord was asking us to walk in obedience and pursue the adoption of this precious little girl.

On December 18th, we got our official pre-approval from China to adopt our daughter,

 Lily Meili Williams!!!

The most recent picture our adoption agency has of Lily.
Through the power of the internet,  however, I have even more recent pictures :)

Stay tuned for more of our story!!! (And more pictures of Miss Lily!)