Loved

We received our monthly update on Nya this week! Her head was shaved about a month ago and it is beginning to grow back. She is so amazingly beautiful. I know I say that all the time, but it is so true. She is 85 cm tall according to the update. So we measured her compared to Levi yesterday and she comes to his shoulders. So small still. She is 30 lbs though!! That tells you how chunky our Nya is- it's no wonder, since the update also included a note that she loves to eat pasta. :)
Her little shirt said, "Loved." Seemingly insignificant, just a little girl's tee that you can pick up anywhere. It probably even doesn't belong to her alone. Yet I stared at that shirt for more than five minutes this morning, looking back and forth at the word Loved and her smiling face.
Her face. Loved. Her smile. Loved. My girl. Loved. She is indeed.
What a priceless, indescribable, irreplaceable gift...to be loved. Until I met Jesus and got to know the Father and was filled by the Holy Spirit, I never felt consistently and particularly loved. The longer and closer I walk with Him, the more I perceive that I am loved. By the Lord and by others.
There is no greater poverty than an impoverishment of love. Orphans around the world will never understand God's love because they have never received the love of a person or a family. We can't heal the hurt of every person. We can't right every wrong. One day the Creator will do that and that day will be magnificent. But right now we can heal one. We can right one wrong. We can be one family that does reflect God's love to others because we experience it together. Many other families have come to the same determination.
What if one more family does the same? What if one more orphan learns to receive God's love because they have received the love of a family? Then, what if one more family does this too? What would happen? What if every able Christian family decided they were going to bring in a child and love them with the healing love of Christ? What would that look like to the world, to our God?
I've heard all the reasons people give for why adoption is not for them. I suspect that many reasons are valid and some are not so valid. I'm not the judge of their reasons. I just wonder how valid all our reasoning will seem when we stand before the Lord? Or what about when we look into the eyes of the beautiful child who just wants a home and a few people to care? Our reasoning had better be very, very good.
Right now I am rejoicing because my baby girl is coming home and she is most certainly loved beyond measure. But I'm also hurting because so many children will be left behind. Unless...

Travel Dates!!!!!

We received our tentative travel date email today informing us that we are expected to leave for ET on April 25 and return to the U.S. on May 2. I was a little disappointed that we will have to wait 22 days from the day she becomes our legal child until the day I leave to get her, but now I am just plain excited!! I've waited all my life to get to this child and I am just thrilled that day is closer than ever before. I am also very honored to be sharing this travel experience with the Van Druff, Watson, Moffat, and Dubose families!! We've been through a lot together these past months and it so wonderful to know the caliber of people who will be in my travel group.
I keep saying my travel group because Clayton is not coming with me. We both decided a long time ago that it is in the boys' best interest if he stays behind to comfort and prepare them for their sister's arrival. We are a very close knit bunch and they are still very young, so we didn't want them to experience any negativity associated with our absence and Nya's homecoming. Hopefully, I will have a travel buddy; but, if not, I couldn't be travelling with a better group of families!!
Oh, Nya, we're so close!!

Nya could very well be the most beautiful girl in the world...

We received a few very becoming pictures of our girl!! Our friends, Joshua and Bethany, just picked up their lovely kiddos in ET and delivered our care package to Nya. She is even more beautiful than the previous pictures showed. Some of the pics were of her looking at our pictures. She looks so serious, like she's trying to figure out how these people could be her new family. My baby!! I wish I could hold her right now.
Bethany described Nya in the following way:
"Your Nya is absolutely wonderful! She has such a fabulous personality and is very affectionate and loving. Also, she loved the little backpack you sent and it was certainly the coveted item among the toddlers. We're still trying to put video clips together to send out but we'll try to do that this week. Can you email me your address so that we can send a little dvd to you? You'll laugh when you see her dancing for sure! Hope you enjoy the pictures of your sweetie! "
You can bet your bottom dollar I got our address to them in no-time flat!! What an amazing gift to have a DVD of her dancing? In the world of adoption, this kind of treasure is unheard of! She will also prize this video in the future as it will give her a glimpse into her previous life in her homeland.
We're moving into our new home this week and that means I will be putting Nya's room together...FINALLY! I will post pics as soon as possible.