If you’ve never heard Maisy’s laugh, you are missing out. Chances are, you haven’t, considering most of you are living on the opposite side of the globe from Maisy and me. But let me tell you, there is absolutely no way to hear her giggle and not giggle back at her. Granted, Maisy had her crabby days just like the next toddler. That girl could make the fiercest moody faces I’ve ever seen on a 2 year old. But I made it a personal challenge to make her laugh every time I saw her. I couldn’t leave the orphanage without making sure she’d laughed at least once… that adorable laugh that sounded like summer. I spent a lot of time praying for little lady Maisy. Even though she was already a toddler, she wasn’t eating solid foods, she wasn't attempting to run, and she wasn’t interacting with other children the way most toddlers do at her age. We’d heard a rumor that she would never be available for adoption because her birth mom was still alive, just unable to care for her. It broke my heart. She was such a delight. And she needed a family. Then one day, our partnering adoption agency emailed me with a surprising request: “Can I ask you a big favor? Maisy’s file was just assigned to our agency and I just introduced her file to an adoptive family. Can you please share with me any information that you know of Maisy?” Never before had they asked for our help in the adoption process. And of course, I was so happy to help answer all of their questions. I shared videos and pictures, and my observations on her personality and development and experience growing up in the orphanage. Then, I waited. It was months before we finally found out that Maisy had been matched with a family! I asked the adoption agency to share my contact info with the family in case they wanted further updates while they waited to come pick her up… but I never heard back. We knew that Maisy’s adoptive family would come pick her up in the spring, but we also knew that we would probably never meet them or cross paths with them. Parents meet their children for the first time at the adoption office in Chengdu, rather than at the orphanage. While we all waited, we loved on her as much as we could. We started speaking English to her so that she could get used to hearing the different sounds and words even before moving to America. And when the day came for us to say goodbye to Maisy, we thought it would be forever. Of course, we were thrilled for her to be joining a forever family. That made the goodbye so bittersweet. Fast forward to a couple weeks after Maisy left the orphanage. I received a message on facebook from the Easter family, thanking Hope Station for loving and praying for Maisy-now-Emma before she joined their family. By some miracle, they had found Hope Station’s page and recognized their new daughter from pictures we had posted. Truly a miracle, and a blessing for all of us. Since then, we've been able to share with them all of our photos of Maisy-now-Emma’s first two years and tell them more about what her life was like in the orphanage. We were there when she started saying "mama," we were there when she started learning to walk, and we were there when she learned the joy of hide-and-seek ... So many of those first moments that her forever family now has pictures and stories of, even though they weren't able to be there in person. In return, the Easter family encouraged us in saying that Maisy-now-Emma is growing up in a home that loves the Father. All of these things are huge answers to things we’ve asked the Father for throughout our time with Maisy.
From us and from the Easters: thank you to each and every one of you that kept Maisy-now-Emma in your thoughts along the way! Praise the One who gave her that laugh like summer and the eternal joy of family.
3 Comments
6/30/2016 07:09:48 pm
There seems to be something in my eye ...
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Naomi
6/30/2016 07:33:20 pm
So beautiful! What a precious gift from the Father, and how wonderful for Emma and her family :-)
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7/2/2016 06:13:21 am
PROOF that you have been doing important, life-changing work! What a WIN -- Go God!!!
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A note from Rebekah...If you've ever wondered what it would be like to start a nonprofit from the ground up, to open a home for ORPHANS with special needs in Asia, you've come to the right place. Archives
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