The Waiting Game

We had to wait. It seemed like we were waiting forever even though it was only 12 weeks from the child proposal to our first meeting. While we were waiting the days had never seemed longer and it was hard to remain patient through the process but we just had to wait. Once one part of the process was completed we would celebrate but then the waiting would begin for the next step. Thankfully our friends and family were praying with us through the entire adoption journey. What did we wait for... We had to wait for the Chinese Adoption Authority to approve our offer and care proposal for the sweet, dark eyed girl.Then we had to wait for the Canadian government to approve her citizenship. We had to wait for the orphanage to reply to our emails and extra questions about her health and how we might prepare for her special needs.We had to wait to prepare for her arrival to our home. We had to wait for the Chinese government offer to travel. We had to wait and wait and wait. Each waiting period seemed like it went on forever as we were anxious to bring this little girl home and love her. Each waiting required more and more patience and resolve. All we could do was pray and give our concerns and impatience to God.

Gods love held our hearts desire and tied us with the red thread to this little girl. Did she know that we were waiting? We sent a care package ahead with a special blanket, a bunny, a disposable camera and pictures of each of us with labels...mother, father and older brother. Would she realize that her life was about to change? Did she know that she had a family who would love her? We would have to wait and see.

Extra photo's the orphanage care givers provided for us during our wait. September 20th, 2010.
Li Cui Ping (pronounced "Sway Ping"),
22 lbs, 82 cm tall.

To bring Harmony...

With the good news of the pending adoption of Cui Ping we purchased a big book of names. We needed a meaningful Canadian name for our little girl. We then asked Patrick's mother, Peng Jan, to help find a suitable chinese name that fit with their family heritage.

We searched through the book many hours trying to find a name for our little girl. Something that had meaning and worked well with Ling as a last name. Natalie, Marcy, Cindy, Anna and the list went on and on explaining conventional meanings and characteristics about each name. Sydney was the one that stood out to us. The name book stated that Sydney is either english for "wide meadow" or French for "St. Deny". Perhaps neither is a terribly strong in meaning. However, Great Uncle Syd came to mind as he was a big help in our decision to adopt. Sometimes you need only to say enough at just the right time to help someone take a leap of faith. Great Uncle Syd had adopted his children and simply said it was the best decision he had ever made and he would do the same again. It was the reassurance we needed to take the next step and start the process for the adoption.  Sydney would be her Canadian name. To us the name would characterize a person with strength of character and beauty, who was kind-hearted, adaptable and resilient.

Peng Jan choose a beautiful chinese name for our little girl. The first character is generational (all girls in this generation of Ling's will have this character) and it means "to bring or to consider" (Su). The second character represents a virtue and means "harmony or joy" (Yee). Together the chinese characters for Su Yee mean "to bring harmony".  A new name, Sydney Su Yee Ling, for a sweet little dark-eyed girl awaiting us in Guangzhou.

Attached by Invisible Red Threads; Beginning Our Adoption Journey

Behold, children are a gift from the Lord. Psalm 127:3

- Chinese Proverb - 
When a child is born invisible red threads extend from the child's spirit and connect to all the significant people who will be part of the child's life. As the child grows, the threads become shorter, drawing closer those people who are destined to be together.

We had waited a long time for "the" phone call. It came with the sounds of trumpets blasting as we were awakened from a deep sleep by the unusual bells of the telephone at an early hour. We were tired and let it ring through to the message machine figuring whoever dare call so early could wait for a few more minutes until we rubbed the sleep out of our eyes. We could hear the message as we lay tucked under the bed covers but it was almost too early in the morning to register what it meant. Essentially we could not believe what the Ministry of Social Services representative was saying. We had a what? A child proposal?

We had been living cautiously for 2 and a 1/2 years with hope stored deep inside our hearts that we might be able to adopt a child. Years before we had hoped to have a conventional family, but as the dream was shattered we cautiously buried our hope for a family of our own. Could this child proposal be real? We jumped out of bed in amazement as we realized we were pregnant with hopeful expectation. We were about to give birth to the idea of adopting a little girl. We tentatively replayed the message on the machine and dashed to the computer to open her file. We were as excited as kids expecting to find a special gift under the Christmas tree! 

Li Cui Ping

Indeed, there she was, a 22 month old little girl with eyes so sweet that they melted our hearts in an instant. We had the impossible task of looking through all her proposal information with less than 48 hours to make the big decision.  Would we adopt her into our family?

Dongguan Children's Welfare Institute,
Guangdong Province
People's Republic of China

What decision! She was to be ours! As August 20th, 2010 unfolded we would look at each other, look at her picture, at each other, again at her picture, break for solitary contemplation lest we unduly influenced each other's decision, and then finally, we sat together and prayed for guidance. It was clear from the first glimpse of her  that we wanted her to be part of our family. Oh, the idea of those jelly shoes running through our house evoked such joy and peace! Patrick sat gazing out at the back yard; at the spot where we had reserved space for a child's playground (just in case) and quietly
stated... let's bring her home Chris, let's bring her home and make her ours. Tears of joy! We immediately called the representative and made known our intentions to adopt this tiny, dark-eyed toddler.