God's Gift to the Gray's

I know everyone has been patiently waiting for us to post picture of our new daughter. We have been so excited to share her with everyone, but we just wanted to make sure everything was official before we posted. As some of you know, adoption is a roller coaster of uncertainties. Nothing will be more official than the plane ride home; however, we have received our Pre-Approval (PA) from China and feel that it is now time to share our precious girl with you all!! (Pictures will be at the end of post!)

Yang Li was born February 13, 1996, in the province of Qinghai. She stayed with her birth parents for approximately 21 days before she was sent to the Children’s Welfare Institute of Xining City (March 4, 1996). We were given no information regarding the reason she was sent there. We do not know if she was abandoned or if something happened to her parents. We do know for them to keep her 21 days meant they loved her and hated to let her go.

She was born with esotropia in both eyes. Esotropia is a form of strabismus, or "squint", in which one or both eyes turns inward. She received surgery to correct this problem; however, we do believe she will need further care regarding her eyes when she arrives home. We will be working closely with Dr. Cogen at the Eye Foundation in Birmingham to correct any problems she may have.

She lived at the orphanage until she was 2 and was then placed in a foster family. We do know her foster family loves her very much and took very good care of her. Her foster mother always held her when she slept. Sadly, in 2001 at the age of 5, she had to return to the orphanage. We have heard conflicting information on why she returned. We believe her foster mother may have been sick and/or they were moving out of the province. Yang Li had a very hard time adjusting to orphanage life because her foster family constantly came to visit her. Her foster dad worked close by and still visits her often. It took awhile but eventually she adjusted to the orphanage.

In 2002, she entered little family life at the orphanage. This is an area of the orphanage designated to a small group of kids and several care takers that they call “mom”. They live like a family and the children consider each other to be brother and sisters. Yang Li’s chores consist of “simple house work” such as carrying water, sweeping the floors, mopping the floors, and doing laundry. (She does more than me!!)

She has always been in school which is good because not all orphans have that privilege. She did very good in Kindergarten but began to struggle in 1st grade. She was not able to keep up with the rest of the children. She was taken out of regular school and placed in a school for the mentally challenged. Although she struggles at times, she is doing very good in school and is the class monitor. She is in 4th grade and her painting “Beautiful Qinghai, My Hometown” won an excellence prize in the 2006 National Art and Calligraphy Contest.

In 2007 Yang Li was given an intelligence test and scored very low. We will not know exactly what this means until we get her home and have her tested through UAB’s International Adoption Clinic. We have talked endlessly with the wonderful doctors and specialist at the clinic and can only hope for the best but are prepared for the worst. The truth is she more than likely will have to be in special education, and she may not ever be able to live on her own. (Don’t panic!! Everything is going to be okay!!)

Yang Li is a very good girl. She is the only one left of the 6 girls that were admitted to the home 6-7 years ago. When Yang Li was asked what adoption means she replied, “It means having a loving mommy and daddy and to live in a warm home.” She really wants to be adopted and live in the U.S. because that is where all of her other friends have gone.

As we have read the information regarding our daughter, we could do nothing but smile as her personality leapt off the pages as we read. She is a wonderful girl with a sense of humor, a big imagination, and is full of hopes and dreams. Her teachers describe her as open, easy going, passionate, and sincere.

Out of everything I read, this was my favorite:
Yang Li is also a very happy and friendly girl. She likes talking to people. She is very serious about keeping rules, so she may upset some of her friends when she tells them to behave at school & home or to keep the rules when playing games.

It is so funny because Chad is the exact same way! I never follow the rules and often make up my own and Chad and I fight every time we play a board game because I like my rules better. I guess Chad and Yang Li will be ganging up on me now!!

A lot of parents chose to keep the information about their child private, but we chose to share what we know to help others better understand why we fell in love with her. We have seen the Lord working through all of this. On February 13, 2007, I felt the Lord leading me to step out on faith and send in our application to adopt even though I had no idea how we would come up with the money to pay for it. It just so happens the day I dropped it in the mail (the same day I started a journal to my daughter) was Yang Li’s birthday. When I did not see a way to pay for some of our adoption expense, Chad came home and told me someone offered him a side job, and the pay was the exact amount we needed. Another time, a check showed up in the mail from a family member we haven’t seen in close to 20 years. A letter was attached saying they just wanted to give it to us and to spend as we saw fit. I can not label these as a mere coincidence but only the Lord at work.

The Lord has changed our hearts and minds throughout this process. He has opened our eyes to see the needs of the older children in China. We started this process wanting a baby and ended up falling in love with a beautiful 12 year old with special needs. I know it is hard for many to understand. We have faced much opposition along the way. It has been a struggle for many that we chose to adopt outside our race and outside of our country. I just want people to understand this isn’t something “we” chose; it is what the Lord chose for us. We just stepped out on faith and accepted the calling. It hasn’t always been easy. It has been very scary at times, but we continuously look to the Lord for guidance and He has given us peace in our hearts and minds.

We ask you all to continually pray for us as we continue this roller coaster ride called adoption. We ask you to pray for guidance for our family as we complete the adoption process. We ask that you pray for Yang Li. She will soon be taken from everything she has ever known. She will be placed with strangers who speak a different language and she will be taken to a country that is foreign to her and very few look like her. As much as she wants to be adopted there is no way to prepare for all of the changes that lay ahead. She will not necessarily feel grateful but scared and confused. We ask that you pray for her health for through Christ all things are possible. We ask you to pray for our finances, for we still need $5000 to complete the adoption plus extra medical expense when we return home.

In closing we ask that you try your best not to worry about us. Just as one is called to be a preacher or a missionary, the Lord has truly called us to adopt Yang Li. She is a wonderful little girl who has dreamed for many years of having a mom and dad and we have prayed many years for her as well. These are truly answered prayers. We ask that you all share in our happiness as we prepare to bring her home.

Scroll down to see pictures of our daughter Yang Li soon to be Anna Li.

Love,

Chad and Kristy