Lemons and Strawbabies

Sometimes life gives you strawbabies (that's Lily's word for strawberries) and sometimes you get lemons. Our challenge is to enjoy both because God's word says to "Give thanks in all circumstances." Not necessarily for all circumstances, but in all circumstances. God's Word also tells us that "All things work for the good of those that believe." We are greatly blessed to have been on the strawbaby side of the fruit isle most of the time, but for the past few weeks, we have been visited by a few lemons.

First, Lily Grace got sick, very sick. She missed two weeks of school. Her doctor diagnosed her with a severe case of the flu virus. Seeing her completely listless, as her fever reached as high as 104 degrees was terribly frightening. We were giving her Tylenol, but we learned that if the fever gets that high, Motrin is better. The doctors told us to bath her in lukewarm water and if her temperature didn't come down in an hour to take her to the emergency room. She had already been running a fever for several days when it got this high. So we were naturally concerned. Here's where the strawbabies came in. When they found out about her, my little Upward Basketball team, the Lady Eagles, decided to pray for Lily Grace. And so they did. By the time I got home from practice, Lily's fever had broken and she was running around playing again. Thank you Sarah, Kathryn, Jenny, Ashley, Anna, and Alana! Your prayers were heard and Lily's better now. That was the week before last. Lily has one other person to thank. Momma!

Hope this didn't cause it!

The entire time she was sick, she didn't want anyone but Momma. And she wouldn't get more than a foot or two away from Momma. Neither Austin, nor I could comfort her. Only Momma. And that's how it happened. Momma got the flu. The worst case of it I've ever seen. One night, I thought I was going to have to take Momma to the emergency room. Her fever was high and she couldn't breathe. It was scary. By this time, Lily was well on her way to recovery, but Momma was still on a downward spiral. Connie missed a week and a half of work between caring for Lily and then suffering the affliction herself. I don't know how Austin and I have avoided it so far, but praise God for that - this is a nasty bug. Then, out of the blue, came a wonderful surprise. Becky got wind of Connie's illness and brought over some homemade chicken stew, homemade cornbread, and a giant homemade chocolate pie. That was the best cornbread I've ever had - thank you Becky! Plus gifts for Lily and Lia. And from that day forward, Connie began to improve. She went back to work today, but is still not up to full speed.

In the midst of these lemons, our adoption agency called and left a message that they needed to talk to us. We got excited, maybe they wanted to ask us about a special needs child. Maybe there was a new list coming out. Maybe they were finished with our Homestudy. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe not. Lemons. Carla informed us that the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs had implemented a new policy and that all agencies had to be in the new online system to receive any referrals, special needs or otherwise. Our agency is not in the new online system and might not be for several months. They know not when it might occur and even then, there's no guarantee of a 'list.' And so now we wait. The agency suggested that since we're not yet logged in with CCAA, maybe we should check around while we finish our Dossier to see if there are other agencies that are in the system and that might be willing to take our case. This doesn't sound good. Lemons. Now, it seems like we're starting over. Looking for an agency. Looking for a sister for Lily Grace. Lia Faith is out there somewhere and nothing that CCAA or anybody else does is going to keep us from finding her. I know this because my God said it and I believe it.

Meanwhile, we'll keep enjoying the strawbabies and tolerating the lemons.

Here's a strawbaby - Austin sketched these portraits of himself and Lily Grace for me and Connie for Christmas!

Another strawbaby - Uncle Wes bought Cookie Monster for Austin when Austin was 6 months old. He bought Tigger for Lily Grace this Christmas. Lily took Tigger out of the box and immediately dropped him on his tail to see if he'd bounce. Until she did it a couple of times, we had no idea what she was doing. Hopefully, she'll have Tigger as long as Austin has had Cookie Monster!

Love,
Green, Party of Five
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, and Lia Faith (out there somewhere)