An Update on LiLi Featuring a Guest Blogger Which is Her MOTHER

On the last day of our trip in 2014 we prayed before we left our hotel that we would be able to speak with whomever was in charge of the files so that we could best advocate when we got home.  We were told there were 2 kids on the list.  When we arrived at the orphanage our guide came to us and said that the "woman in charge of the files" was there to talk to us.  We looked at each other with wide eyes and tears because we were not expecting this door to fling wide open.  She sat with us and shared all of the FIVE kids who were on the list - all boys.  Wonderful news!  But, there was one child, the youngest at the orphanage they did not mention who had Down's Syndrome.  We said, "What about LiLi?  Can she have a file?"  The woman said, "If you find her a family, we will prepare her file."  Do you know how hard it is for a cryer (me - Lori) to keep from crying at a moment like this?  Another door flung wide open.  We got home and got to work advocating for her.  She was featured on www.nohandsbutours.com and within days I had multiple emails asking about her but one family stood out.  The rest of the story is here in their own words:

In August of 2014, the life of our family took a dramatic turn in ONE day, due to ONE blog post, due to ONE friend that posted a link on her Facebook page, due to ONE team made of many that went to be love and found ONE little girl that was meant to be our forever daughter. The title of the blog post where we first saw her precious face was "A Family for Lee Lee." 

We had been in the adoption process for over 4 years at that point, and still waiting. Our paperwork sat in Ethiopia almost all that time and was never matched with a child due to governing delays in the process. During that time, we had some life changes like adding another child through foster care, job changes, and moving to a new city. Life went on but our hearts still longed and ached for our daughter who we felt was in another land. We had heard the clear call to adopt, it just felt as if there were scattered puzzle pieces laying around that were yet to be a finished picture.

About a month before seeing the blog about Lee Lee, we had inquired with our agency about what options were available to us if we switched countries from Ethiopia, since we were still at a standstill. Our family coordinator said China's Special Needs program would be an option. We had first desired to adopt from China when we first began the adoption process. At that time, however, we were disqualified due to a cancer history in our family. But, things had changed in China during our wait and we were now eligible. We decided as a family to take some time to pray and see if that was the right direction. 

August 3, 2014, with our family vacation beginning the next day, packing procrastination had set in. Facebook browsing was underway and then, boom! The blog post that would change our lives forever was before us. I (Angela) read it first and many things caught my heart. Lee Lee's need was Down Syndrome and we had been in a conversation about a year before in our marriage about considering adopting a child with that specific need. The night before our long drive to our vacation spot, I showed the blog post to my husband, unsure of what his response would be. After all, we had seen thousands of similar advocacy blogs throughout our 4 year wait. But, my husband was also intrigued and his heart tugged. We ended up staying up almost all night praying, dreaming, crying, wondering....could this be our daughter we had waited for all this time? We inquired by email and got a quick reply so the next day, we packed our van with all our typical vacation items but also took our printer/scanner, adoption paperwork, financial documents, anything else we could think of, in case the possibility became a reality. 

That August week was a roller coaster of events that became the first of many miracles we would see in Lee Lee becoming an orphan no more. Our agency was guarded about saying "yes" to helping us. There were just so many places that logistics could stop the whole thing. For example, this child had no file started. The orphanage had said they would prepare her file if a family was found, but would they follow through? Not only that, we needed to fund raise and do all new paperwork for a new country. All we knew for sure at that point was that God had burdened our heart for this little girl, she needed a family and we hoped we could be that family. Our promise to God was to walk obediently through the doors He opened and to accept whatever His will was for us and for Lee Lee.

We had no idea the miracles that were waiting to happen. Each piece of paper completed, each dollar fund-raised, each "yes" from government officials, down to the details such as someone donating the airfare for our three biological sons to go with us to China to bring Lee Lee home. 

So, so many prayers were answered. We brought Lee Lee (now named Lia) home to be with our family forever on July 9, 2015. We envisioned the joy she would add to our days and even what we imagined has all been surpassed in just the few weeks we have been together. All the arduous days of waiting and wondering are now over for her and for us and we are blessed to be the recipients of the richest gifts on earth...seeing God perform real life miracles right before our very eyes. 

Now we sit and smile when we think that her crib was once in a room filled with boys. Her new home is also filled with all brothers, who love her immensely. She has a Mommy and Daddy to tuck her in bed at night and to be there first thing in the morning, memories are being made, milestones met. A family for Lee Lee was found! 

Lee Lee in 2014 with a one of our team members.

Lee Lee with one of the nannies that loved her like she was her own (she has worked at the orphanage for over 20 years because she loves the children).

And, now Lee Lee (now known as Lia) HOME almost exactly a year later - she has FOUR brothers, the same amount of "brothers" she had at the orphanage!  If that is not al little wink from the Father then I don't know what is!

How was your trip?

We often get asked "how was the trip?" Many times, the emotions threaten to spill over when we're asked this, and it is easier on our hearts to simply make a general reply like "oh, it was really great!" or "It is so wonderful to spend time with the children." It is wonderful to spend time with the children. It is also heartbreaking and at times haunting. The first year I took my teen on a mission trip, after we returned home, she couldn't sleep more than a few hours at a time without waking and sobbing "Who will love our babies now that we're not there?" She had a crash course in giving her cares to Jesus and knowing He loves our babies more than we do.. And when we speak of our babies -- some of them are adults, in beds, unable to function. They are our babies!

A friend who I have had the honor of serving with on some of our trips wrote this heartfelt post after we returned home. If this is your only view of our work, I would tell you this describes my heart better than anything I could have written myself. I'm sharing this with her hesitant permission. As you read, know this is so. very. real...

My daughter, adopted 9 months ago at almost eight years of age, caught me looking at pictures. They were hard pictures to view. Pictures into a world of disabled starving teenage children. Not from the orphanage that I visit, but from one I had been to before. Thankfully it was also a place where we were starting to see some improvements. She began to ask me questions before I put the photos away…

”Why does he not have a bottom?"

” Well, he does have a bottom, he just doesn’t have any fat or muscle on his bottom so you are just looking a bones with skin stretched over them, and It has happened because he is starving. But, he is getting better because they are starting to feed him more.”

“There was a girl like that at my China home. Her arms and legs were very skinny, but her body wasn’t so skinny.”

“If her body wasn’t so skinny, she was being fed more and that’s good.”

“She was really, really pale.”

“Did she ever go outside?”

“No! Of course not! She couldn’t walk!!”

And just like that, I feel the urge to get on a plane, fly to China, take an overnight train, find a small orphanage, walk up those flights of stairs, and see if I can take one special girl outside. It’s what my heart compels me to do. It’s sometimes exactly what I do when I visit China.

Is it enough?

It never feels like enough. Especially after I’m home.

The statements ring in my head, “You can’t really do anything in one week.” and “You haven’t really done anything to change her life.” I hear those both as my own questions and as statements from people telling why they would never go. I understand the truth of that.

Then amidst the clamor in my head comes a quiet voice ringing like a bell, “I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.”

From Matthew 26:35-36 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me…Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

A peace washes over my heart. Going is the right thing for me to do. It has value to my King, and suddenly the struggle turns into worship. He loves me like that. He loves ME like that. He would get on a plane, take an overnight train, climb flights of stairs to take me outside. He loves me like that. He loves you like that. There is no one like Jesus and His extravagant love. He is the one that can change a life and sometimes he starts with a heart.

Those who stay...

Four girls who are orphaned with little or no hope of ever having a family to call their own. These children have our hearts. During worship on Sunday morning, during prayer time in my home, when my heart is singing praises to my Father, and so many times during the day,during sacred moments and not-so-sacred moments,snapshots of the children who remain in the orphanage crowd my mind and remain with me.

Let me introduce you to some of these who kept a piece of our hearts when we left China.

Esther, Reserved. Modest. Quiet. Humble. Self-controlled. Hidden. The story of Esther is a beautiful story of a young woman who showed strength in her reliance on God during troubled times. I found this statement about the name and the girl... “The true honor of the princess is within.” That is our Esther. She has an inner beauty. An unshakable joy. And a strength that comes from making the best of her circumstances. Our girl Esther...

The young lady on the right in this photo is Rachel, beautiful and well favored. Jacob loved Rachel deeply and worked to bring her into his home. Our Rachel is quiet, sensitive, and deeply loved. I pray she will realize how much we love her, how much her Father loves her.

These two. They wake us in the night hours. They bring us to tears and drive us to our knees as we go through the day. Our girls. Rachel and Esther. Orphaned. Many of the children at the SWI have physical or mental special needs that for one reason or another have caused them to be placed in the orphanage. These two girls are healthy with no special needs. Their minds are sharp. Their thoughts are clear. There is no way for our hearts and minds to reduce the magnitude of the fact that they are orphaned, and they know it!

They were on break from 'orphan school' while we visited. Can you even begin to imagine knowing you are going to orphan school? Knowing that people who see you, see 'orphan' before they see the person you are? These girls know the best their lives ever have to offer is being tagged 'orphan.' When I first met Rachel, she looked as if she had nothing to smile about. That broke my heart. My desire was that we see her smile before we left. And we did. My daughter (standing next to Rachel in the photo) was ready to come home and BEG her dad to start paperwork to adopt a teen sister. Another teen member of our group had started planning ways to convince his family to bring the other girl home... But we discovered these two are unadoptable. They have social circumstances that pretty much guarantee they will live their childhood lives as orphans. Funny thing is, my mind knows their situation. My heart knows their Father, and He keeps reminding me that He places the lonely in families.

Naomi means “my joy,” “my bliss,” or “pleasantness of Jehovah,” and is a name suggestive of all that is charming, agreeable, attractive. All that is charming, agreeable, attractive. Oh sweet Naomi! How I long to give you and hug -- and to get a hug in return from you. Such a loving young lady, and it is, oh, so easy to love her!! She is the first one we see when we arrive at the orphanage, and she stays with us as much as she possibly can. This young girl is so full of love and simply desires to have that love returned to her.

Ruthi, Companion; friend; vision of beauty. We never saw Naomi without Ruthi at her side. These two have learned the art of friendship. And dear goodness, we could learn a thing or two from them... We told the girls the names we had given them. We told them the meanings of their names. They knew we didn't take naming them lightly, and they had a deep appreciation for this gift we gave them. Ruthi was shy. The "r" sound is a difficult one to make in the Chinese language. She would sit with me when no one was listening and work at sounding out her name. Precious, precious girl...

Ruthi and Naomi. These girls. As I wrote about our other teens, the two who attend 'orphan school,' my heart broke for these two girls. Ruthi and Naomi don't even have school. They watch as the other teens leave for school while they stay at the orphanage. I work in a learning atmosphere with children here in the states, and I've seen the joy on the children's faces when they realize they have learned something new or mastered a task. How sad that these girls aren't given the opportunity to experience that joy. In a good case scenario, they will remain at the orphanage and work as adults. I hope they get that good case scenario. I'm reminded that life isn't always easy or fair. The Lord and I talk about these two often, join us?