The Day We Met Lily Grace

Some things are just simply meant to be. God planned it and that's that. This was never more evident for us than on January 17th, 2006. You see, that's the day that God laid out long ago for us to see a picture of Lily Grace for the first time. We were already planning to adopt a child from China and had contracted with Lifeline Children's Services in Birmingham, AL (simply the most professional and loving Christian agency we could have hoped for. But that's another story for another day).

We had already had our application in to Lifeline for a little over a month and were in the midst of completing the required paperwork for the adoption. Connie had learned that Lifeline would occassionally list children from China who were deemed by the Chinese to have a special need and therefore not eligible for referral (or at least I think that's the way it worked). Such was the case on January 17th, 2006. Connie raced home from work (maybe she didn't go at all this day?) to see the new list. I wasn't yet aware that she was doing this, but got a call at work telling me that there was this list of children who needed a family and that we should consider it.

I could tell that Connie was more excited than I'd ever seen her and was planning to look over the list. I prayed that this was God's plan, because I sure didn't have it my mind that this is the way our adoption would go. "What's a special need? What kind of care would she require? Do we have enough insurance?" Anyway, Connie called again later to tell me she'd been reading the biography of the kids on the list (now that I think about it, I don't think Connie was able to go to work that day!).

I told her I'd be home around 5:00 and we'd discuss it during dinner. "Hahaha, LOL, Hahaha, we'll discuss it over dinner, good one Jerry." On the way home, another call. "Get home now!! I've seen the list and they have pictures." "OK, ok, I'm on my way." Click. "Oh no?"

I arrived home, just as I'd promised, around 5:00 pm to a beaming wife hiding something behind her back. "Did you go to work today, honey?" Tears. "There's a little girl I think you'd better read about." Tears. "OK, ok, let's talk about it, but I don't want to see any pictures." At that point, the hidden treasure behind Connie's back, a picture of Jiang Yong Xing, was presented to me and just like that, it was done. "Forget the biography, how do we make sure we get to bring this little girl home!" More tears.

"But what do we do now?" Not to worry. When a mother sees her baby for the first time, they know what to do. God created them that way. Lily Grace, we will always remember this day and when you get old enough to understand, we'll be so excited to tell you this story and more!

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace