A Blessing Within

Okay, I'm officially tired of waiting for the coveted LSC (letter seeking confirmation). I don't care that it's only been a total of 20 days since our dossier was sent to China. And I read that it could end up taking 100 days or more. Ackkk!

So, technically I can't share certain specifics about our little sweetie on this blog. But, I've decided to share little glimpses until I get our LSC. Sort of a teaser, if you will.

When first filling out our special needs checklist early last November, I began to check the list on a daily basis. I would pray for the children and also pray that God would open my heart to the specific need that he wanted to bless us with this time. I think sometime around the end of November or early December, a little girl came on the list with a special need I hadn't heard of previously. She had a facial cleft. Her mouth, cheek, and one eye were affected. I researched this need a little and found that much like a cleft lip, certain areas of the facial tissue are not closed. This can affect the nose, mouth, eye, cheek, etc. I prayed for this little girl, but also worried that God might ask me to be open to this sort of need. After a few more weeks of praying for God to reveal the child that he had for our family, I became certain that I needed to give over control to God. I realized that my shallowness might cause me to miss the blessing that God had intended. I felt that God was specifically laying facial clefts and other facial issues that sometimes involve malformations and scarring. Steve and I discussed these things for several weeks, praying for God's guidance. Finally, we resubmitted our application, adding several new special needs that we were willing to accept.

That little girl that I first saw in November has found her family and will probably be united with them in the next few months. While she was not our daughter, God used her to prepare my heart for the specific child He had for our family. Perhaps by now you have guessed that our new daughter was born with a facial cleft. It was repaired when she was one month old. Before that time, she would cry loudly and had trouble drinking milk because her little left cheek was involved from her ear to her mouth, as well as a very small portion of her right cheek by the corner of her mouth.

I mention this special need not to in any way attempt to define our daughter, but rather to educate. I will tell you that our daughter is beautiful, and I can hardly wait to throw a handful of photos of her up on our blog. She may eventually need some plastic surgery to reduce some of the scarring on her face, but we'll leave that decision up to the plastic surgeon. My hope for my daughter is that people who meet her will look past any imperfections in her outward appearance to see the blessing within. And while they are at it, I hope they do the same for me. Wouldn't you agree?