Our Jubilee

The date and time of meeting our daughter, Mei Jubilee (Li Li) is an unfolding mystery. We have been wondering and waiting for this little girl for two years now. I have grown weary of predicting a likely date. Our timeline has more than doubled since we began the adoption process. To my great surprise and God's loving hand, our hearts are large with hope that only grows with the waiting. A year ago it was not so. I couldn't help but watch friends and family members bring children into the world and wonder when our daughter would come. I had questioned her coming at all. But the reality is that she is coming. And it will set in as time grows closer to her being a part of our every day lives. It could be just right around the corner that our highly anticipated fourth member arrives. As our excitement grows, I can't help but share everything I know, since it's all I have about her. The first thing I want to say is that we have not been matched with a baby yet. Our "plan" was to wait and name her after we received her picture. But with the wait came the need to connect with the idea that we will have a daughter, and she is a real person we can pray for. That means there is no particular baby waiting for us...yet. But God knows her and at the right time will match us (we are currently in the matching room in China). We have requested a baby girl, as young as possible, so she is not waiting for us...yet. At the time we began our process, she had not even been conceived! I'm spending time listening to rumors on chinaadopttalk.com each day to track others' wait and come up with new guesstimates all the time. We are basically in line for a referral within the next 4 months and will travel to China two months after. Our desired travel time is before the end of the year, but the likely travel wait for our date (according to rumors) is January 2008. If you would like to follow along with us, feel free. Just click on Rumor Queen under our links to the side. The one thing I would like to try to explain and it will hopefully make sense is that we are a piece of "approved" paper in China with the date of December 5, 2005. The organization that does international adoptions (CCAA) has completed paperwork up through November 14, 2005. We are close on paper, but they are processing only 6-7 days per month. Each month referrals come out (the first week or so) and each time they do we are one step closer to our moment. Please pray with us as we are matched! She is growing in our hearts and is somewhere on the other side of the moon. I was thinking about that at the beach...that (if she happens to have a window in her orphanage or has ever seen the night sky) we see the same moon. And someday we will look up at the moon together. Selah.
In the picture above, Dodger is holding a Jubilee tomato. We planted these in the spring and are watching them grow. It seemed like forever, waiting for our tomato plants to produce fruit. But they arrived when they were ready. And they continue to be so so good. I can only imagine how perfect God's timing will be when he brings Jubilee home.