I also sent via FedEx another ten documents for our China dossier. That project is looking pretty manageable now.
Update on the doctor's report that gave too much detail of insignificant past health findings. The cardiologist has written a note stating that the condition isn't expected to affect my normal life expectancy. I can pick it up at their office on Monday. Hopefully that will be the end of the matter.
While actually getting the homestudy paperwork completed has to take first place for BIG DEAL this week, a close second would be our trip to Chicago to visit our student from Purdue's International Friendship Program. He was in the country just briefly to present at a conference. It was amazing to see him again. I hadn't told him about our adoption, so he was quite surprised. I wasn't sure how he would react, not really knowing how the Chinese people feel about Americans adopting their children. He actually teared up though, and had good things to say about it!
I have to stop right here and ask just WHY I am so amazed when God does something spectacular? He IS GOD after all! I am in total awe though as I think about the past few years and how He has orchestrated events and people into our lives. One huge example of that is Jack.
We had been part of Purdue's International Friendship Program in 1982. We were assigned a French couple that time. We were in the program just that one year and didn't think about it much again until 2009. WHY did we all of a sudden, after twenty-seven years, (when a daughter had just gotten married and we'd just moved into a house in Lafayette) decide we wanted to be in this program again? We didn't pick the student or the country. Purdue assigned him to us.
We loved Jack. He added so much to our family. We totally enjoyed spending time with him and learning about his culture. We loved watching him do things with our family, like cutting down and decorating a Christmas tree. "I feel like in movie!" he told us as we sat around sipping hot chocolate and looking at the tree all beautiful with lights. We were so sad when he had to return to his country sooner than expected. We had him just ONE SEMESTER but formed a definite bond with this special young man.
We thought we would probably never see Jack again when he returned to China. It is so far away. Here we are three years later, when out of the blue he informs us he is returning to the states to present at a conference in Chicago. What are the chances that we would make a Chinese friend, and he would return from half way around the world just as we are attempting to sort out files, photos, videos, and questions about Chinese culture? Could we have planned this had we known? I doubt it.
Jack was easily able to translate the Chinese characters in the files and photos. He was easily able to translate what was being said in the background talk in the first video we'd received of Abigail in China. Want to know how concerned God is about this mother's heart and my wonderings about insignificant (to most people) details? Abigail is dancing and doing hand motions to a song in the agency's video. I have said over and over, "I wish I knew what the song was saying!" Guess what? Jack easily told me what the song was about! He helped us sort out our own confusion of how Chinese names "work" and what she would actually be called by her friends, and better yet, the most intimate family way of saying her name. He said we should call her Qing Qing. (Cheeng, Cheeng) I am in awe that these little details that mean so much to ME as the mom, were sorted out by a trusted friend that we "JUST HAPPENED" to know. Talk about great timing! Our lives were enriched just by knowing this young man. Then we had our own personal translator come from China! Wow God!
Here is a photo of us in the hotel lobby. I had taken along a scrapbook and some photos to help him catch up on what our family has been doing since he left.
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Jack wanted ANYTHING but Chinese food. He loves trying new things, so especially wanted something different. We went to this unusual Italian place that also served fried chicken and fish, and Indian Curry! Go figure! Jack ordered the curry, and to our amusement, it came with little packages of Chinese hot sauce! Too funny!
Alas, our day ended waaaay too soon. We hated to say goodbye again. We stopped for a last picture in downtown Chicago.
As I sit here looking at the photos of the day and thinking "Yay, God!" I'm still amazed at how He plans things years in advance. He gave us a love of the Chinese people and culture years ago. He moved us to Ohio (and you know I came kicking and screaming - almost literally!) to where there is one of the few International Adoption Centers (medical) in the country, to a co-op that is VERY multicultural with internationally adopted children. To a job that helps make international adoption just a little bit more do-able with funds allocated to assist with a portion of the expense. To the place to where the talk of the last fifteen years comes together and turns into action. I am amazed at His grace and goodness.
