No promises

Adoption is just as risky as giving birth, I think. There are no guarantees. In Changsha I thought my baby was so sick. And she is. She's got a horrid cold, is teething and has various allergic reactions to things (including latex nipples so we've switched) and is susceptible to bug bites/rashes from heat and bed bugs and who knows what. However, she does not have scabies which was a worry and she does not have bronchitis. After arriving in Guangzhou and meeting back up with the rest of our group, I've realized just how healthy our girl is. Some babies have open sores, blisters, and horrid respiratory infections. Others are very malnourished, behind developmentally, etc. No one knows what life is going to throw at you. You just scoop up your baby and deal with the surprises because ultimately it doesn't matter, she/he is yours and we face what we face as though they were born to us. Please be in prayer for one of our families in particular. A single mom and her sister arrived for her daughter, Julia. They had their precious little girl 5 days before she died. I won't go into their private story here. We held a memorial service for her yesterday. I think God wanted her to be loved and cared for by her mother. He didn't want her to die in an orphanage. Our hearts are sick for this mom. She's experienced the most wonderful high and the most tragic low all in one week. Please ask Father to comfort her and hold her tight. She rides on the bus with us surrounded by squealing, laughing, crying babies and her own tears slide silently down her cheeks and I don't have words for her but I have prayers and I ask that you do, too. Thank you.

Reagan passed her "examination" with flying colors. The medical exam is a free-for-all basically. Dozens of parents and babies crowd into the hot medical clinic and go from room to room having various parts of our babies examined. It's quite perfunctory and assembly-line like. Reagan has a scheduled appointment on July 26 with the international adoption clinic to check her out for real. We did this exam for adoption purposes only.