About a year after she joined our family, Maili began talking about her little sister. According to her, this sister was the same age as Maili, she was waiting for our family to come and get her in China, and her name was Scooby. Often she would ask "When are we going to China to get my Scooby?" and we would laugh and brush her off, thinking that it was just a phase and that she would soon forget about it. But rather than forget about it, she never let it go. Many times a day she would mention this sister, even going so far as to set aside clothes and toys for her, setting a place for her at the table, and picking out clothes for her at the store. No matter how may times we reminded her that our family was complete, she continued to insist that her Scooby was waiting for her in China and that we needed to hurry up and go get her.
Being an active member of the adoption community, I receive frequent e-mails from numerous groups and individuals advocating for children who are waiting for families. Occasionally I would open these or glance at the photos, more often I simply deleted them without even looking. After all, our family was complete, right?
On day in September I received such an email and opened it, glancing at the photos of the waiting children. One of the photos caught my eye because the little girl in the photo bore an uncanny resemblance to Maili. Not the Maili whose joyful laughter fills our home each and every day, but the Maili we met in China almost three years ago. The one whose downcast eyes spoke volumes about the sadness and loss she had endured in her short life. The photos we have of Maili from that day show fear and sadness, and this little girl's eyes had the exact same look, a look which has long since been erased for Maili and replaced with an absolute sparkle and joy for life.
I clicked on the photo, curious. According to the information given, she was just eight months younger than Maili, with an unrepaired heart condition. This was the same special need we were told that Maili had, although it later turned out that her heart is perfectly healthy and normal. Sighing, I closed the file. Too many children with sad eyes and not enough families to bring them home. I put it out of my mind and life went on.
A month or so later, I spotted a familiar face among a different group of waiting children. Surely a family would have come forward to bring her home by now, I thought. Meanwhile, Maili continued her campaign for "my Scooby" as she called her, and I began to wonder what if. What if we just took a look at the file. It wouldn't hurt to look. By this time, Maili had become so insistent that I began to wonder if maybe she knew something we didn't. I mentioned it to Jamie, who by then had grown quite tired of Scooby talk and responded with a resounding NO. I told him that for some reason I felt led to look at her file, and I had no idea why, since I certainly didn't see myself as the mother of three. He reminded me that even if we wanted to pursue another adoption, which we did NOT, that we had no money saved for one and that we were still paying off the loan from the previous adoption. At that point, I told him that if this was meant to be, the doors would open instead of close,and that we would find a way to pay for the adoption without borrowing a penny. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and said that if I was so certain of that, then go ahead and look at the file, because those doors weren't gonna open any time soon. He had no idea just how wrong he was.
Once we looked at the file, we discovered the reason that this little girl was still on the list. She had some pretty significant medical issues which should not be taken lightly. After doing some research into her specific heart defects, we realized that her needs were probably too great for our family to handle. However, we did send the file to several different specialists to review, just to see what they thought about her prognosis. Amazingly enough, once everything was explained to us, her needs didn't seem so scary after all. In fact, they seemed pretty doable. There were still a lot of unanswered questions, however. We requested more information from the orphanage, thinking that at that point the doors would close. It is almost unheard of to get an update from China on a file you are reviewing before you even commit to accepting a referral. However, every single test we requested was done, every single question we had was answered fully, and every piece of information we were provided pointed to the fact that this little girl could live a normal, healthy life if only she was given the opportunity to have the life-saving surgery she needed. If only she had a family to give her that chance. Were we that family? We began to wonder.
We spent almost three months reviewing the file from the time we had first seen this little girl's picture. Three months during which we listed all of the reasons why we should just go on with our lives and forget about this little girl, who we later found out had been on the list for over a year because no one had stepped forward for her to make her part of their family. Eventually we both realized that this was indeed meant to be our daughter, and that if we just took that leap of faith, the rest would work itself out. When Maili saw her photo on the computer for the first time, she said without hesitation " That's my Scooby. We need to go get her in China, she's waiting for us." The journey to Scooby had begun.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, a family was praying for that little girl. A foster family who never gave up hope that the little girl they had loved and lost would someday find a family of her own. When this family left China, they had to make the heartbreaking decision to return this little girl to the orphanage, this child who had become a cherished part of their family during the time she spent in their home. Almost three years went by, but the family never stopped praying that she would find a family to love and care for her and provide her with the medical care she needed to live a long and healthy life. They had named her Allison Hope, and called her Allie.
When we discovered quite by accident that this little girl whose eyes we could not forget and whose situation we could no longer ignore was the same little girl that this family had loved and cherished as their own, we decided to name her Callyn Hope, in honor of the fact that they never gave up HOPE for her during the time she waited for her forever family to claim her. One by one, all of the doors which should have been closed to us were opened, leaving us no doubt that this little girl was indeed meant to be a part of our family. One day we will tell Callie the story of how she came to be part of our family, and she will be as amazed as we are at the miracles which took place. Not one penny borrowed, but somehow every penny needed has been saved or raised just in time for each payment. We are still in awe of that one, and looking back no we have no idea how that was even possible in a six month period of time, but it happened. One family and one little girl who never gave up hope that Scooby would find her forever family, and two hearts which changed completely in a matter of a few months. I guess it's true what they say. If you want to hear God laugh, start telling him your plans.
Look at the nations and watch, and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. - Habakkuk 1:5
Once we looked at the file, we discovered the reason that this little girl was still on the list. She had some pretty significant medical issues which should not be taken lightly. After doing some research into her specific heart defects, we realized that her needs were probably too great for our family to handle. However, we did send the file to several different specialists to review, just to see what they thought about her prognosis. Amazingly enough, once everything was explained to us, her needs didn't seem so scary after all. In fact, they seemed pretty doable. There were still a lot of unanswered questions, however. We requested more information from the orphanage, thinking that at that point the doors would close. It is almost unheard of to get an update from China on a file you are reviewing before you even commit to accepting a referral. However, every single test we requested was done, every single question we had was answered fully, and every piece of information we were provided pointed to the fact that this little girl could live a normal, healthy life if only she was given the opportunity to have the life-saving surgery she needed. If only she had a family to give her that chance. Were we that family? We began to wonder.
We spent almost three months reviewing the file from the time we had first seen this little girl's picture. Three months during which we listed all of the reasons why we should just go on with our lives and forget about this little girl, who we later found out had been on the list for over a year because no one had stepped forward for her to make her part of their family. Eventually we both realized that this was indeed meant to be our daughter, and that if we just took that leap of faith, the rest would work itself out. When Maili saw her photo on the computer for the first time, she said without hesitation " That's my Scooby. We need to go get her in China, she's waiting for us." The journey to Scooby had begun.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, a family was praying for that little girl. A foster family who never gave up hope that the little girl they had loved and lost would someday find a family of her own. When this family left China, they had to make the heartbreaking decision to return this little girl to the orphanage, this child who had become a cherished part of their family during the time she spent in their home. Almost three years went by, but the family never stopped praying that she would find a family to love and care for her and provide her with the medical care she needed to live a long and healthy life. They had named her Allison Hope, and called her Allie.
When we discovered quite by accident that this little girl whose eyes we could not forget and whose situation we could no longer ignore was the same little girl that this family had loved and cherished as their own, we decided to name her Callyn Hope, in honor of the fact that they never gave up HOPE for her during the time she waited for her forever family to claim her. One by one, all of the doors which should have been closed to us were opened, leaving us no doubt that this little girl was indeed meant to be a part of our family. One day we will tell Callie the story of how she came to be part of our family, and she will be as amazed as we are at the miracles which took place. Not one penny borrowed, but somehow every penny needed has been saved or raised just in time for each payment. We are still in awe of that one, and looking back no we have no idea how that was even possible in a six month period of time, but it happened. One family and one little girl who never gave up hope that Scooby would find her forever family, and two hearts which changed completely in a matter of a few months. I guess it's true what they say. If you want to hear God laugh, start telling him your plans.
Look at the nations and watch, and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. - Habakkuk 1:5
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