"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break." --Ancient Chinese ProverbWe are still amazed by how God is working out our adoption. When John and I sent in our preliminary application by internet to our agency on the evening of January 2, 2005, we never could have guessed that our daughter had been born earlier that very day. (We will most likely never know what time she was born; we just know that China is 14 hours ahead of us and that she was found with a note that listed her date of birth.) We had started the process at that time because we wanted a baby who would be close in age to Rhodes and Cara. Little did we know that our baby, our daughter-to-be Anna, would live with her birth family for several months, thereby delaying her readiness for adoption until the fall of 2007. When delay after delay held up our paperwork to the point of it taking 16 months before our file was forwarded to China, although difficult we knew that God was in control, that He had some reason for the delays. Then in January of this year, we were unexpectantly sent our agency's latest waiting child list. We had already discussed checking these lists for toddlers but had decided that we were afraid of trying to "take matters into our own hands" and wanted to be sure we were waiting on God's timing. When we received that first list last January, John and I felt it was right to begin checking the waiting child lists for our Anna, ...just in time to have us ready and able to request Dongxing when she was on the November list.
When I saw Dongxing's information and pictures, I felt somewhere deep inside that there was a good chance we would be matched with her if we requested to be since she was almost 3 years old. And yet, I knew that there were about 200 families with our agency that were eligible to request children on the waiting child lists. Most of those families were ahead of us in line. Therefore, I did not let myself look at Dongxing's info or pictures once we made our decision to request her. I did not want to let myself get to the point that I would be too heartbroken if we were not matched with her. I never even made the connection with her birth date! We had a week to wait before we knew our agency's decision. On the 15th, the day we would find out, I felt weak and sick to my stomach all morning. The agency would let the different social workers know by 11am central time the families who were not matched with a child. Cara stays at school until 2:30 on Thursdays and Rhodes spends at least part of those days with his grandma. By myself, I spent the morning trying to pray and relax to calm down my nerves and stomach. As 11:00 slipped by, then 11:30, 12 noon, 1:00, I began to feel myself calm down. The thought came to me, "They want the families who were not chosen to hear from their social workers first so they won't see another family post a match with the same child on an internet group. So that means that the families who were matched would not hear from their social workers until later in the day." I was beginning to expect a match! When I heard from our social worker, about 1:30 that afternoon, in some ways I wasn't surprised. But in other ways, I was shocked! I had to completely change my mindset -- I had been mentally preparing for a "baby" 24 months or younger; now I have to get ready for a 3 y.o.! And I'm thrilled! She'll be close in age to Rhodes and Cara after all!
When we received a copy of Anna's Chinese name written in the Chinese characters and were able to have it translated, we were amazed that it meant "Blessing (Happiness) from the East." Such a beautiful, true statement of what she is to us! It meant even more to me because of a Bible verse that I came back across in January of '06, right before I found out we were having to get back at the end of the line at US immigration after 3 months of waiting. Isaiah tells us "Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west". This verse brought a lot of comfort to me at that time, as if it were a promise from God that He would bring us together with Anna. Anna Kathryn Dongxing Scott is a blessing from the east!
Ladybugs are a symbol of good luck or prosperity in China. Families adopting from China often say that a "ladybug sighting" means that referrals are on their way. While not a believer in "luck", ladybugs are a fun, cute symbol of China adoption journeys. And the weekend before we were matched with our Anna, while sitting outside at my grandmother's house 2 1/2 hours from ours, we were surrounded by a literal swarm of ladybugs. They were everywhere, flying all around us. I had never seen anything like it! It was pretty special, especially now looking back at it.
We have found out that, thanks to the Half the Sky Foundation, the children at Anna's orphanage have had journals with pictures kept for them. They started these back in November of '05. We are praying fervently that we receive a book for Anna when we meet her. For her to have a journal and pictures of (most of) her life at the orphanage will be wonderful!
Anna was born on January 2, 2005, the very day we sent our preliminary application by internet to Bethany Christian Services!!!
