Happy Referral Day!!

I will never forget that day, 2 years ago, and that phone call. As soon as I saw our adoption agency on the caller id, I started shaking. We had been on our agency's "interested family" list for the China special needs program for quite a few months. As different families received calls every few months, we wondered when it would be our turn. We wondered which little girl God had already chosen for our family....so many questions, so many prayers, so much waiting. Just 2 weeks earlier, our agency (America World Adoption) had received 4 "surprise", out of the blue Special needs referrals. I watched as families posted on America Worlds Yahoo group about their referrals. I tried not to question God......but why weren't WE getting a call? A family posted about receiving a referral of a little girl with a hemangioma on her face. They said it looked like a little birth mark. I was so sad......our Riley had had a hemangioma on his back. We knew exactly what that was. We had seen doctors about it. We were educated and informed! But God had chosen another family for this little girl. I called our family coordinator to ask her about this, and she told me we had only said "minor special needs", but we hadn't specifically said we would consider a child with a hemangioma. I told her to add it to our application. She told me they RARELY get this as a special need. Then told me again, to make sure I understood, they RARELY get this as a special need! Ok, I understood, but please add this to our list. This was a no-brainer. Two weeks later, our phone rang. It was our family coordinator....I was shaking! She asked me if we would be interested in reviewing the file of a little girl with a hemangioma on her hand?! WHAT?? Yes, they recieved another file! Were we interested? Are you kidding.....let us see our daughter! Less than an hour later, Russ was home from work, the kids had been called in from playing with their friends and we were looking at the pictures of the cutest little Chinese baby we had ever seen. She was our daughter!!

3 months later, we were on a plane to China. We were so blessed to be able to travel with the family who had adopted the little girl with the hemangioma on her face(Lucy). Had it not been for Lucy's referral, we would not have known to add the SN of Hemangioma to our application, and we would not have gotten our referral for Addison. Was her referral really a "surprise" to our agency? I suppose it was. But was it a surprise to God? Definitely not!! I truly believe God brought Addison into our family, through that "surprise referral" of Lucy...... 2 years later, and we are still in touch with Lucy and her mom and family. They have become some of my dearest friends! Isn't it amazing how God works, how God blesses, and how God shows himself to us in the best of ways?! This is a picture of Addie and Lucy at the beach last month.....

And here are a few more pictures of Addison now.....she is such a joy to our family. She is a perfect fit for our family, and always has been. I don't think any of us can imagine our lives without her in them. Thanks be to God.....for He is never surprised! How we love this little girl, and how I love to re-tell her story of how she became a part of our family!

Psalm 78:4 .........we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

We love you Addison Grace Xin!!!!!!!!!!