Happy Chinese New Year!

"Gung Hay Fat Choy!"

2007

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese New year celebration. Here is a little history lesson for you. Chinese New Year started more than four thousand years ago. It does not always fall on the same day each year but it is always in January or February on the first New Moon of the year and marks the end of one planting season and the beginning of another. Every year in the Chinese calendar is named after an animal. This happens to be the "year of the pig", which also happens to be the year I was born in (1971) and will most likely be the year our daughter is born in.



There are a lot of very ancient, and quite interesting (pagan), symbols and beliefs that surround this celebration. As I am teaching my boys about the country and people from which there 'mei mei' will come to us from, I find myself consistently reminding them that this is not a Christian society, so much of their hope and "happiness" is based on luck and wealth and superstition. We've been reading through book after book on Chinese Culture, Chinese New year, Chinese Language (you name it). One thing that stuck with me, for whatever reason, was the belief that if a flower blooms on New Year's Day, it is a sign that the year ahead will be a good one. On the way home from church today we were heading up Foresthill road, which, when you drive it everyday, you become very familiar with certain landmarks. As we passed what we call, "pear tree trail" there was a beautiful bush with the most glorious pink blooms I have ever seen. I pulled over and picked some to display as a symbol of our love for our daughter on this Chinese New Year's Day, 2007. God is so sweet and the Chinese belief came to my mind...only it was the reality of the fact that Daddy God is the author of our days and His precious promises are blooming forth this year. Yes, it will be a good one!



We had a lovely lunch at our favorite Shechuan restaurant in Auburn after Church. The owner came and sat at our table and talked with us at length about China, his family, his travels there. I asked a lot of questions. I have been reading a book called "The Lost Daughters of China". It is a fascinating account of the extraordinarily complex cultural issues in China that have prevailed through centuries...and millions of orphan girls are the result. I won't go into it all because it is quite complicated (my simple mind can't wrap itself around half of it), but I had to ask him how the Chinese people feel about Americans coming over to take their babies west. His response was not surprising and it confirmed much of what I have been reading about. He made a gesture with his hands and said in a very broken English, "They really don't care. They are happy to have Americans coming to their cities and spending money."



I think God is in the process of breaking my heart for the women of China. I don't know if every adopting mother from China experiences this but, I have been weeping not only for the plight of the beautiful lost daughters of China but also for the birth mothers and the mother of my daughter. I find myself driving and just sobbing and praying for God's mercy on this country where life is desperately hard for women and where the suicide rates of women top those for men. I prayed the other evening, as I set down my book to get some sleep, that if it is His will, may He use me to bring hope to these precious vessels in China who do not know Him and how much He loves them. My past and future belongs to Him. Who knows? It always amazes me how the seeds are planted and then in the right season burst forth to the Glory of the Father. Such is the story of our journey to Sarah Grace.



Where does that leave us? I held the official notarized copies of our home study in my hand this week. They came in the mail on Thursday, Feb. 15th. What a miracle. We are really just "wrapping things up" now with the dossier...waiting still on the I-600A to be completed. I know it will be at just the right time. I had a dream the other night that our referral came after only 4 months of waiting, but like in the last dream I had about this process, we had a choice. We could take the referral at that time or wait 12 months instead. I don't know what the "choice" theme is all about but I feel like there is some significance and I'm asking the Lord about that. Will we be doing this a second time? I actually brought that up to Brian in the car last night and he gave me that look! I love that look ...what is this woman getting me into now?!!! How he loves me, my husband, and I so love him. He is the reflection of my precious saviors love for me. (Well, you know...most of the time:0)



I'll end on that note.





The boys get their very first "Red Envelopes" for Chinese New Year.