Our 2nd Gotcha Day with Lilly

May 14, 2007 in Changsha, China
With Jane, from CWA, being walked over to meet her family for the very first time ever!




In my arms for the very first time! Wow, how she has grown and blossomed since this day. And her hair, she finally has enough for pony tails!

Today is a busy day with David's birthday, Lilly's Gotcha Day, Fulton's baseball game, and Shelby's piano recital- Wow! Lilly loves the park so we did make time to do that after lunch. We have a small gift that we purchased in China for her that we will give her later today when we are all back together again after today's numerous activities. Last night, we were reminding her that today was her special day- 2 years since we became a family. She asked if it was her birthday and then we pulled out her mini photo album that is kept in a basket next to her bed with all of her books. We read it from time to time, and we read through it last night as well. It simply tells, in pictures, how we became a family. She seemed to understand a little more after that. This morning, she and I had a few quiet moments when we looked at the big album of pictures from her adoption trip. She loved seeing her baby pictures from the orphanage, seemed a little sad when looking at the pictures of her sick in the hospital, and enjoyed seeing some sights from her native country. After we closed the book, she smiled her huge smile and said so joyfully "That was a great story. That's my story!" I immediately thought of this verse: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16b So, yes, that indeed was Lilly's story written by our Heavenly Father who lovingly watched over her and sustained her through 19 months of life with a heart defect in need of surgical repair and 19 months without a loving family. We thank God today for Lilly and all the joy that she has brought to our lives these last 2 years. What a blessing it is to call her our daughter and our sister.

This last picture (from my sister's wedding) perfectly captures our little Lilly: constant motion, pure energy, living life to the fullest all the time, full of joy (and lots of other emotions- good and bad :) ), and finally beautiful - both inside and out!