November is National Adoption Month. For the next two "Make a Difference Monday" posts I want to share my own adoption stories. For the last two mondays of November I want to focus on God's charge to care for the orphan and the many ways to do so.
Journey to Kelsea Grace Jing-Lei
On June 30, 2003, somewhere in Southern China, a baby girl was born. Seven days later, that same baby girl was found on the doorstep of a fashion shop in Beihai. Attached to her was a note that simply stated the date of her birth. She was taken to an orphanage where she was given the name Guo Jing Lei. Little Jing Lei spent 13 months there, as she waited for God to match her with her forever family.
We were paperwork pregnant for a year and a half before we were finally matched with a child. The day came when the FedEx man delivered our baby in the form of 3 small photos. We stared in wonder at the face of the precious Guo Jing Lei, and asked ourselves how it was possible to have so much love for someone we had never met. Several weeks later, Roger and I boarded a plane for the LONG flight to China. There, along with a dozen other families, we finally met our daughter, from that day on known as Kelsea Grace Jing-Lei. As the caregiver moved toward us, Kelsea reached out her arms to us, as if she knew exactly who we were. And then she was placed in our arms. It's a moment burned in my memory. The face in the photo was real. And she was ours.
All of the other babies were crying or clinging to their caregivers, every last one of them, except for Kelsea. She had a grin on her face that wouldn't stop. She smiled through the bus ride back to the hotel when the other babies screamed. She laughed and splashed during her first-ever bath while the other babies cried at the feel of water. She slept peacefully through all but one night while the other babies kept their parents awake. We almost felt guilty.
Journey to Kelsea Grace Jing-Lei
On June 30, 2003, somewhere in Southern China, a baby girl was born. Seven days later, that same baby girl was found on the doorstep of a fashion shop in Beihai. Attached to her was a note that simply stated the date of her birth. She was taken to an orphanage where she was given the name Guo Jing Lei. Little Jing Lei spent 13 months there, as she waited for God to match her with her forever family.
On the other side of the world was our family of four, who had just experienced a miracle that confirmed God's desire for us to adopt. I'm not sure if it was the fact that my father was raised in an orphanage and never had the security of a family. Perhaps it was because one of my brothers had been adopted. Or maybe it was one of the documentaries I had seen years ago about baby girls being abandoned by the thousands in China and raised in orphanages. I'm not sure when the desire to adopt a child first took root in my heart, and also in my husbands, but I know who planted it there: the "Father of the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). People often ask why we chose China, and why we chose to adopt a girl. I can't explain it any other way than to say that when I saw a picture of my family in my head, it always held the beautiful face of a daughter of China.
We were paperwork pregnant for a year and a half before we were finally matched with a child. The day came when the FedEx man delivered our baby in the form of 3 small photos. We stared in wonder at the face of the precious Guo Jing Lei, and asked ourselves how it was possible to have so much love for someone we had never met. Several weeks later, Roger and I boarded a plane for the LONG flight to China. There, along with a dozen other families, we finally met our daughter, from that day on known as Kelsea Grace Jing-Lei. As the caregiver moved toward us, Kelsea reached out her arms to us, as if she knew exactly who we were. And then she was placed in our arms. It's a moment burned in my memory. The face in the photo was real. And she was ours.
All of the other babies were crying or clinging to their caregivers, every last one of them, except for Kelsea. She had a grin on her face that wouldn't stop. She smiled through the bus ride back to the hotel when the other babies screamed. She laughed and splashed during her first-ever bath while the other babies cried at the feel of water. She slept peacefully through all but one night while the other babies kept their parents awake. We almost felt guilty.After another long flight, Kelsea arrived home to the delight of her sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles. She started walking the week after she stepped foot on U.S. soil. Within no time she began talking, and hasn't slowed down since. She has blessed our family over the last 7 years with her hugs, her laughter, and her compassionate spirit. We know without a doubt that she was chosen by God to be part of our family.
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