One Way Ticket

Ever since I last wrote two days ago, my thoughts have been on China more than ever since we are SO CLOSE to finally seeing our daughter face-to-face!  Yesterday, the FedEx van pulled up in front of our house and I have grown to LOVE seeing that FedEx van because they often bring adoption related mail.  And sure enough, today they brought our travel paperwork--two white folders--from Lifeline.  It's hard to believe that of all the paperwork we've had to do the past 15 months, these two folders of essential documents we'll take with us to China are what matter most.

One of the documents inside these envelopes is our Travel Approval, granting us permission to fly to China to bring Jenna HOME!!!

The travel agent I got in touch with two days ago has been wonderful and I'm thrilled to say that tonight we booked three round-trip tickets to China and a one-way ticket to bring our daughter HOME!  I can't begin to express how surreal it was to see He Tong's name on the itinerary to leave Guangzhou, China, and fly with Shelby and I to Atlanta, Georgia where she will become a U.S. Citizen when the plane lands.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!

But even as I type these words tonight, there are feelings of sadness because Jenna will be leaving the only home she has known in her 2 1/2 years of life.  She will not understand what is going on.  She is going to be scared.  She may not want to me to take care of her.

Adoption is beautiful but it is also sad because behind every orphan is a story of abandonment, loss, and grief.   Or in the words of Katie J. Davis, “Adoption is a redemptive response to tragedy that happens in this broken world.” (Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption) It breaks my heart that He Tong was abandoned at eight days of life for reasons I'll probably never know.  It breaks my heart to think about her birth mother and the anguish of not knowing if her baby girl is alive or dead.  And it breaks my heart that Jenna will have questions about all of this and only by the grace of God will I know how to answer her questions.   

But the good, glorious news is that He Tong was found on her 8th day of life; she has been cared for in an orphanage for 2 1/2 years; and in just over a month, she will be boarding a plane with a one-way ticket bound for America to be with her forever family.  Praise the Lord!!!