This is blog was created to share some tidbits of our daily lives

and advocate on behalf of the 143 million orphans around the world!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Introducing.....Lily Hope!!!!!!!

We are SO PROUD and PLEASED to FINALLY announce the referral of our daughter from China...
Lily Hope Jiatong Stanley!!!!!!
(Scream! AAAHHH! Shout!)
Our little Ladybug
Look at those PRECIOUS eyes!!!! ( When I see this pic..I can see into this girl's soul!)
Pretty in Pink!!! (This was our first glimpse of our sweet daughter. The moment I saw this pic, I KNEW she was ours!!!!!!

We are STILL in total disbelief that we received our referral from China. After waiting over 3 years, you just wonder every now and then if you will EVER see the face of that little girl that God put a hole in your heart for. I cannot believe the journey of Faith we have been on. I can honestly say that this journey has brought me closer to God than ANY other thing in all of my life. I am so grateful that God made us wait. I know this sounds crazy because it hasn't been easy. But, what has been easy is knowing our God is in CONTROL of EVERY minor and major detail of our lives. He has shown us in BIG and LITTLE ways throughout this process that He is SO REAL, PEOPLE. If you wonder if there is a God, if he hears your cries, if He sees your pain, HE DOES. But we must remember he is molding us for HIS PURPOSE, NOT OURS. He set the lonely in our hearts for a child, when we felt complete at one time. His plan is to set the lonely in families, but not for a child from our womb, but HIS, on HIS terms, in HIS timing. You see, when we first began this process, we thought we wanted a "girl, 0-12 months, no known special needs". God knew we weren't ready for what He had in store for us, so SLOWLY but SURELY He began to mold us according to His PURPOSE, HIS CHARACTER. Teaching us to love and see through HIS eyes, with HIS heart. He knew that there was a little girl in Ethiopia for us that needed us first. He knew that he needed to remove the scales from our eyes...little by little, bit by bit, piece by piece. Taking away our tunnel vision, broadening our view. He knew we needed to go to ETHIOPIA, AFRICA to see the poor, the needy, and the BEAUTIFUL people. He knew we wouldn't be able to come back to America unchanged and has challenged us to DO SOMETHING about it. He also opened our eyes to the many children who reside in orphanages with special needs. He knew He had to teach us many things before we were ready to open our eyes and hearts to a child with known special needs. We submitted our medical checklist to our agency in Feb. 2009. I told Doug I just couldn't turn it in unless we checked cleft lip and palate. I just knew in my heart that this was something God had led us to. I even told Doug I hoped that was her need. We recently received the email with the information about our daughter. I first saw her name. (Jia means Happy and Tong means GOLDEN HOPE!!! and we had picked our name over 3 years ago!!!) Next, I saw her birth date... 8-25-09!!! What??!! She wasn't even 9 months old??? We had said we would accept a child up to 36 months so we were totally blown away by this! I then saw the words, "cleft lip and palate" and smiled....and finally I clicked on the picture of her in the pink! At that very moment, I was looking at my daughter. We are SO over the moon, the boys are SO IN LOVE, and Lola Joy says Lily BOPE and laughs!:) GOD IS GOOD! I wish I had the time to share all of the times HE showed up in this process in a very real way through circumstances and people and rainbows, names, etc. I am going to have to put it into words at some point. All I can say is...if you have any tiny tug on your heart to adopt...DO IT! Step out of the boat like Peter did and FOCUS your eyes on the ONE who will walk with you EVERY step of the way guiding you, molding you, providing for you, and CARRYING you. I DARE YOU!
Thanks for your love and prayers. We have about 3-5 months before we can see our sweet daughter face to face, so keep us all in your prayers. I will update soon with a "what's next" post.
Overwhelmed to be CHOSEN to be Lily's forever family,
Julie
For those of you in the adoption world that knows what this means...
we have sent our LOI and today we received our PA. Waiting for three letters LOA...then TA. And by the way, Happy 9 months old sweet Lily Pie.:)

17 comments:

Amy said...

Yay! I am so excited for you all and so thrilled to finally see pics of her. Keep me posted and I'll keep stalking your blog too. =)

The Ritzmanns said...

Congratulations! We are so happy for you.

The Ritzmanns

Emy said...

Love that sweet baby girl already! She is perfect in every way!!! I can't wait for your little lady bug (tears) to be home so I can kiss those CHEEKS! Love you guys!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!

Heather Kightlinger said...

We are so excited and can't wait to meet sweet Lily Hope! I am sure she will bring as much joy to our lives as little Miss Lola Joy!
So glad the day you have waited SO LONG for has finally arrived! :)Love you guys!!

Kristi J said...

yayyyy, congrats...so happy for you all...and..don't you think your baby girl looks a lot like my LL?? They really look a lot a like...too cute...congrats on your china doll...she is precious, kristi

waiting4lexi@gmail.com said...

Lily is breathtaking!!! ook at those eyes!! They are so so pretty, like your other princess she will never need eye makeup!!! Such a beautiful family, wishing you a quick TA. We have been home with our little peanut for 6 months. She was 2 days shy of 11 months when we became a family. Blessings! Mary

Rebecca said...

This brings back memories of seeing our Faith Fu for the first time. Congratulations!!! It has been a long journey and God is faithful. Enjoy it!!!

Mi Jean said...

So happy to finally have a picture of our Lily Hope.Can't wait for her to be here with us and be able to love on her.God continues to bless us in sooooo many ways.Love all of you!

The Gutmans' said...

Rejoice in the Lord and be Glad in it!!!! Wow!!!! She's beautiful, can't wait for her to get here. Praying for you all, lya

Garland Family of 5 said...

Beautiful Lily! Finally! Can't wait to follow along on your journey to bring your precious Lily home. We love you all so much and feel so blessed to have you in our lives!

Hollie said...

I am so happy and excited for you guys!! So glad we got to see pics of Miss Lily Hope:) She is precious. Can't wait to get her home and get my hands on her:)Yea!!!

ImaFriendofGod said...

Wow. What an awesome God we serve. When I look at the 2nd picture of Lily Hope, the first thing I see is the most beautiful smile!

You're right. You can see this little one's soul. There's no limit to the blessing she is going to bring us.

Thank you for your obedience to the purpose and plan God has for your family.

I fell in love with her the day you announced you were going to adopt. I can't wait to meet her heart to heart.

So happy for you!

Aunt J

Donna said...

We can't believe God is giving us another precious granddaughter. Can't wait to see her with her bubbas and big sister. Wow, that sounds weird calling Lola Joy a big sister. We love you guys and are so proud of your commitment to loving all God's children.

Our Star in the Sky said...

YAY! She is precious!!!! So happy for you!

Marcie said...

she is GORGEOUS! Thank you so much for your testimony. I stumbled upon your blog today, and your words said exactly what I needed to hear. God Bless you and your sweet sweet family.

Marcie in San Francisco

Sheila said...

Oh my goodness! You have no idea how much hope, faith and blessing you, your family and your journeys have been for me. God is so good and can work the most complicated situations with such grace and wisdom. He is the only one capable of seeing the web of inspiration each of us has on one another. I can't wait to meet Lilly Hope!!!!!!!!!!!

Linette said...

Congratulations Julie! So excited for you. I'm glad you found my blog..please stop by anytime! Lily is so adorable..I know you can't wait to get her in your arms!!!