Somewhere Beyond the Sea...

Our good friends are heading to China tomorrow. They're going to meet their daughter and bring her home with them. The word excitement would be and understatement. They've been waiting for this to happen for a while (though not as long as some in the adpotion process, I know). Their process really has gone quite quickly--but I know it can feel like eons at the same time.

They have boys the same age as ours (which is very convenient). Actually we got to know each other because our oldest and their oldest became best friends in Kindergarten. And then we moved--just as we were getting to know each other well. Granted, we're in adjoining cities, but it's not as convenient as when we lived in the same school. Or the same neighborhood for that matter. 

I don't say this to be judgmental of anyone else, but I laud them for adopting. They could have poured a lot of money into IVF or other means of having a baby themselves. They chose to seek out a child who didn't have parents to take care of her and make her their own. This is valuing life.

We've been praying for them (they requested it, but we would have prayed anyway). It'll be a big transition for their family. When the boys come home (they're spending time with their grandparents while their parents fly to China) they will have a new sister. Not a baby, but an 18-month old. An 18-month old who won't understand the words they say (except for the few Chinese words they know). She will have trips to the hospital to take care of deformities in her feet. There will now be three kids in the house--not two (and one of them is a girl!). And of course it will be a huge transition for her to leave the orphanage and meet her new mom and dad, to fly in an airplane for the first time across the ocean to a country with strange customs and language. 

But for as long as our friends have known about the sweet little girl, halfway around the world, who would one day join their household, they have called her their daughter and sister. And she is. She may have been born in a different country to a different woman and man, but she is still a part of their family (even though they haven't met her yet).  It's a beautiful image of love and family.

It's also a beautiful image of God. Throughout the Bible God uses the language of adoption for how He loves us. He invites us into His family. He longs to call us His child. He desires to make us His heirs and give us our inheritence. He loves us deeply and perfectly.

And while I hope that little Gracie Yuan Yuan may one day know that love, I am grateful that for now she will know the love of an earthly family--especially in a wonderful househould like our dear friends have. Blessings to you, dear friends. Many, many blessings.