Oh My Stars - this is really happening!

OK folks….reality is setting in, and my emotions are all over the map.  Philip spent most of the morning working out our flight arrangements, and we are booked!  We fly out on Thursday, April 17^th and will return on Thursday, May 1^st.   That’s right!  Just 3 weeks from today, we will be embarking on the trip of a lifetime.  We will leave here a family of 3 and return as a family of 4. 

 

Once we arrive in Guangzhou (towards the end of our trip), we will meet up with 4 other families from our adoption agency.  They are all adopting older children (ages 7-8), with 3 boys and 1 girl.  These families went through the “Waiting Child” program, also known as the special needs program.  Two of these families will be bringing other children with them as well.  It will be fun to meet these folks and get to know them while on this incredible trip.

 

We don’t have all of our details quite yet, but on Monday, April 21^st, likely while you are sleeping, across the world, we will meet this little girl that so many have prayed about for over 7 years.  I feel that it is rather poignant that on Easter Sunday, Yong Ning Yu will spend her last night in an orphanage, her last night to not have a family, her last night NOT to know that lots of people love her very much.  April 21^st will forever be referred to as “Gotcha Day” in our family.  And, while April 21, 2014, will be a most joyful day for us, we must not forget that on that day, Yong Ning Yu will become Olivia Yu Martindale and will be leaving everything and everyone she has ever known in life, going into the arms of strange people who smell weird, eat different things, and who talk and look funny to her.  For her, it may be a very traumatic experience.  It will be a day full of emotion, I’m sure.  Please pray that God gives us the strength to handle whatever happens on that day; that Olivia’s little heart is open to accepting our love; and that Ansley’s heart continues to be full of love for her new little sister and adjusts well to not getting all the attention.  I can’t help to think about Olivia's birth parents, specifically her birth mother.  I pray that on April 21^st, they feel some sort of peace over them that their little girl is going to be loved and well taken care of.

 

Thanks for caring, praying, and reading.  Your support means the world to us. 

Until next time,

Jill