REFERRAL!!!

Short Story: Last Monday, August 5th, we got our referral. She's 18 months old, from the same province as Abram, and has a cleft palate. We have named her Emerson and will keep her Chinese name for her middle name.

Long version:  Over the past few months we've been able to inquire about a few different little girls(off a shared list).  When looking off this list, we also realize that another family could be checking out the same information, too.  Whereas a referral is a bit different, in that, we were the ONLY people looking at Emerson's information.

So, as we inquired about these different girls(over the past few months) and looked over their information/file, it was a difficult experience.  Sometimes there were multiple medical needs and I struggled in trying to figure out what our family could/could not handle.  Along with it, the information would be over 2 years old and that left a lot of questions.  Sometimes we had to research the condition, because we were SO clueless as to what it was and had to ask our Dr. if there was EVEN a specialist in the area. Other times, we felt like there wasn't much information and we would try to ask for more information.  I finally came to the point of praying that God would either make Himself clear by working in both Jeff and I(and stepping out in faith) or that He would make it clear on paper(the child's file).  As we prayed about these different girls, we either never felt a peace about them or one time we found out that another family had already "claimed" the girl.

Last Monday evening, I went to bed, while Jeff was driving home late.  He usually turns his email off on his phone in the evening, but for some reason he left it on.  Close to 10pm, we received an email from our Agency with our referral(we had 24 to 48 hours to respond)!  Jeff quickly called me, getting me out of bed and had me review the email.  Immediately we both felt peaceful.  Her condition, cleft palate was something we were already somewhat familiar with and didn't need to research it.  Her information was the MOST RECENT information we had ever seen(dated March 2013). AND the description of her was the MOST we've seen (one whole page about her and her development).  Jeff and I felt and still feel so thankful for God Answering our prayer.  He made it very clear through her paperwork.

Chase and Aubrey are VERY EXCITED!!! Abram, well.....let's just say that we need to somehow prepare him for the changes that coming.  We hope to travel by late winter/early spring.  And, yes, Chase NOW, knows that he will be traveling with us to China.

If you think of us, we WELCOME your prayers!  There will be lots of change for Emerson and for us.