The Year of the Snake...Oh the Irony!!!

Chinese New Year is in full swing and it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that somewhere over the ocean in the large land of China, our daughter is hopefully getting to enjoy some of the cultural festivities that take place during this most important Chinese holiday.  Oh how I long to have our Jenna here in America to celebrate all of our special holidays with us, but I also look forward to incorporating her heritage and culture into our family by celebrating Chinese New Year with her for years to come...on this side of the ocean!

What is ironic for me is that 2013 is the "Year of the Snake" in the Chinese Zodiac.  Although I don't believe at all in Zodiac signs, the reason I think this is ironic and even funny is because I am
FLAT OUT PHOBIC of snakes.  I am not afraid to admit this and one day, our sweet Jenna will know this, as our other three children already do.  I HATE SNAKES!  So the other day while at a Chinese New Year celebration at my son's preschool, a friend of mine started to show me pictures from her trip to China to adopt her precious daughter...and she put a picture of snakes right into my hands not knowing that my reaction would be to FLIP OUT at the sight of them!  Yes, it's pitiful, but aren't most phobias??!!  After regaining my composure and catching my breath, I asked her why she had a picture of snakes in her China photo album and she proceeded to tell me that there are often aquariums filled with snakes along the streets of China.  My jaw dropped to the floor and my blood pressure quickly soared because hopefully sometime this year, I will be walking the streets of China with our precious Jenna before bringing her home to good ol' Newnan, Georgia and the last thing I want to do in front of my new daughter is FLIP OUT at the sight of snakes!  And with this being the "Year of the Snake," my hunch is there will be even more snakes out and about for all to see.  AAAAAHHHHH!!!

So what does this have to do with our adoption?  Perhaps not much for those of you that aren't PHOBIC of snakes, but for me, this is a stark reminder of the fact that nothing will hold me back from going to China to follow God's call of adopting a precious little girl in need of a forever family.

Jenna--whether it's the Year of the Snake or the Year of the Ox or whatever, I am so excited that this is your year to finally have a forever family and I cannot wait to see you, hold you, and love you.  Because your country is celebrating this special holiday right now, our adoption paperwork is on hold for a week or so, but I'm trying to be patient and cannot wait to get notification that our paperwork is headed to China.  Then we will be one step closer to having you in our arms! 

In the meantime, I'm going to start praying now that my eyes will be blinded to any and all snakes while I spend two weeks in China!!!