Our Exciting News

Big breath. We found her. We finally found her. We can't tell you many of the details, as China won't let us, but we can say, she's adorable! We are, of course, talking about the newest Housley daughter. Josh and Caleb's younger sister, and Esther's big sister. Yep, we're filling the big (seven year) gap between Caleb and Esther with a beauty who is about to turn five in November. Yes, yes, I know, adopting a 5 year old is a HUGE leap of faith, and a few days ago, this blog would have had a decidedly less-perky tone, but we are feeling the calm and peaceful feeling that we are on the right path!

I'll spare you all the sordid/mundane details about how we found a different agency, got approval from them to adopt out of birth order (meaning adopting a child older than our youngest - Esther), and realizing that this sweet little girl was the right one. Skipping to the more interesting part: She is from the Hubei province, seems very healthy other than her one special need (club foot), lives with a foster family, is always the first one to help up the younger children when they fall, wipe their noses, comfort them, etc. She's very smart and excels in school, knows colors, numbers, her name, nursery rhymes. She loves it when people comment about how pretty she is, but scowls when people stare at her leg. She has had surgery on her leg, but it doesn't appear it was too successful. We spoke to an orthopedist who believes that another surgery (or surgeries) will help give her full use of her leg and that she'll be able to have a very normal life (normal? at our house?! HA!). She may never run marathons, but that may be her only limitation. And we all know how overrated marathons can be, right? (Audrey, you know I'm only joking. I love marathons. I can't get enough of marathons. I wish I were running one right now.)

Now for reality... She will be five years old by the time we can go get her (January? February?). She will have memories of China, and she may have a definate feeling about wanting or not wanting to be adopted. Even if she is all for it, we will be sooooo strange to her in the beginning (stranger than we typically are), and leaving her orphanage/foster home will mean the loss of all that is familar to her. Imagine if every person your five year old child knew suddenly died, and he/she was taken by complete strangers to a completely different country with a different language, smell, foods, customs, everything. We have no illusion that this will go as smoothly as Esther's adoption did. In fact, we plan on it being much harder and much longer of an adjustment. A few days ago I started to feel panicky, are we really ready for this? Am I ready for this? I'm a pretty selfish gal, and I like my alone time. Am I ready for another child, and one who will need LOTS of my time and energy?

Fortunately, I got the answers I needed. The reaction I got from my parents was just priceless. and hey! We have a live-in interpreter! Thank you Jason :) Yes, this is the right thing. No, I'm not ready, but God will help me get there. He will prepare me if I trust Him, and He will prepare her. It's gonna be a bumpy ride, but man! what a ride!