If you don't see the video click this link: http://youtu.be/yNWXoL-kTLM
On Monday the week of Easter we learned that there were two files available from our agency's partnership orphanage. Our dossier had arrived in China on Monday, but since we were not officially "logged in" we were unable to view the files. 30 other families whose dossiers were already logged in were able to view them the week before, but no one had matched yet. The director of the program at our agency wanted us to be able to see them too, but since we were not yet logged in we would not be able to put any files on hold. This meant that if we requested a file and fell in love, but another logged in family wanted it we would lose it. So we expected that we would be waiting at least another week or so for a chance to see those files or another month to match off the shared list. Oh yeah, a new shared list also came out Monday night, but again since we were not officially logged in we were ineligible to match.
Then, on Wednesday around 11:00 we got an email with the two files! We already knew the age, gender, and medical condition of both children, but that was all so we decided to request the complete file on the 9 month old girl. I was trying very hard to be objective and really seek God in prayer, because I knew that I could easily see a picture and become immediately attached. (Which was super hard, because the picture we put in the video was our favorite and seemed to scream I'm your daughter!) After a few days of lots of prayer, Brian and I were both convinced that this was our child. We had a pediatrician look over her file to make sure there were no additional medical conditions and on Easter Sunday we officially matched!
Going into this adoption, I thought that if we had a girl we would name her Sarah. But whenever I looked at this baby's picture, I knew that she was not a Sarah. One night while I was laying in bed thinking about her, the name Lily popped into my head and I knew that was her name. Lily is not a name we had ever considered during our other pregnancies, but it fit her perfectly. It wasn't until a day or two later that I realized the correlation of the Easter Lily and Easter being only a few days away. When I looked up the meaning of the name, I knew that she was our daughter and that God had given her the perfect name.
We are hoping to travel to China in September to bring her home. At that point she will be about 14 months old, and will most likely require surgery soon after that. I love that when I look at her face I don't even notice her cleft lip. I love that she has a killer smile, and has no idea that anything is out of the ordinary. I love that she will be 14 months younger than Caroline so they will be a grade apart. I love that Caroline calls her "Baby Iwy" and the first thing that she said about her was "Cute baby" when she saw her picture. I love that Matthew prays for her to have a good day playing when he goes to bed (China is literally 12 hours ahead) and thinks it's crazy that she's awake when we're sleeping. I love her, and can't wait to hold her in my arms!
(For those of you wondering about the other child, he has matched too! And the coolest part is he matched with our friends who have been going through the process with us. We will now be able to travel to the same orphanage together and take our children home. And our children will always have a connection to China through each other.)