Memorial Box Monday ~ The Final Seal

It's time to share another story, and place another treasure in our Memorial Box. For my full scoop on what a Memorial Box is see this post, which will also link you to my friend Linny's blog . . . where Memorial Box Monday got it's start!

Today's Story ~ The Final Seal

As I shared in last week's MBM story the Lord gave me the name Theadora shortly after He planted the seed of adoption in my heart in 1998. He would use this name (or various forms of it) over the course of nine years, to confirm that adoption was His plan for our lives.

In June 2007 God revealed our little Fu Xiao to us, and we began pursuing her adoption. She was already "Teddi" in my heart. During the nearly year long wait to bring her home I would spend countless hours gazing at the pictures we had of our soon-to-be daughter. And as any expectant mother would do, I dreamed of the day I would meet her for the very first time.

Following are some of my thoughts, written in the wee hours of the morning on the day that we were to be united with our baby girl . . .

In a few hours I will meet my beloved Teddi girl . . . and the child that has lived in my heart all these years will become my daughter! There have been many times over the years where I have questioned whether God would ever bring His promise to pass. Doubtingly, I have asked, "When Lord?" "Do you still mean it?" "How will we do this?" And most of all, "Where is she, who is she, is she born yet?" Every time I asked, God was faithful to confirm His plan by showing me the name Theadora or Teddi, in the most creative

of ways and places. . .

I didn't know where we would eventually find our daughter, but my heart's desire was always China. God knows the desires of our hearts, oh does he ever!

The noises coming through my window this morning are different than what I usually wake up to. I hear busy traffic, and the occasional honking horn, and peacocks. (I also hear my jet lagged four year old, wide awake and talking, at 3:00 a.m.) I am in China!

I am in China to receive the long awaited desire of my heart. My Gift of God, my Teddi girl. God keeps his promises.

In a few hours our little Xiao Xiao will leave the only home she has ever known. She will journey by car for three hours to a destination she does not know, to be embraced by people she has never seen.

Lord in a way that only you can do, please give her peace in her heart. Prepare her for us. Let her know that the words we speak over her, although they are foreign to her, are words of love. . . Love for a child long prayed for, long hoped for, long desired in our hearts.

Back to my story . . .

Through a Yaho*o group, I had contact with other parents who were adopting children from Teddi's orphanage. Of the girls who had left ahead of Teddi, most had been wearing traditional Chinese silks when they met their families. As I mentioned before, I'd spent much time dreaming of the moment when I would gaze upon my little bird for the first time. Always in mine mind's eye she was wearing a traditional Chinese silk dress. It was pink.

The appointed time came, and we arrived at the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou. Our guide asked us to be seated while he checked on the status of things. Moments later he returned and asked us to follow him, and we scrambled to get our camera's ready . . .

Words cannot adequately describe the feeling that washed over me. Things seemed to become slow motion, as if someone had changed the speed at which I was moving. We followed our guide across the room, and through an entryway. It was surreal. Very surreal. And then in a blink, there she was.

I gasped at her tinyness . . . her cuteness . . . and at the reality that she was now a person, and no longer a picture. We remained standing as her orphanage director introduced each of the five of us to her in Chinese (Mama . . . Baba . . .etc.). She looked at us wide-eyed, and gave a small smile when she spied Brogan . . . relieved I'm sure to see we were already toting someone her size.

We took a seat, and the director gently nudged her towards us. I offered her a baby doll, and she let me scoop her up. Ahhhhhh, the moment had arrived. She was mine.

She wasn't wearing the pink silk dress I had pictured. Instead she was wearing a flouncy pink skirt, a tiny white tank top, and over the tank, as a jacket-- a little denim shirt.

Okay, this is where it gets good (as many of you already know) . . .

As I picked my baby up for the very first time, and placed her on my lap, something on the collar of her shirt caught my eye, and my heart. Right there on the point of her little collar was embroidered a . . . teddy bear!

My voice shook, as I leaned to Bryan, "There is a teddy bear on her collar"!

When I spotted that bear, I knew that God had put the final seal on His promise!

Amazing? Yes!

Beyond my comprehension! Yes, again.

There would be yet one more little twist to Teddi's story . . .

On Gotcha Day we received two cd's full of pictures, from Teddi's orphanage director. They documented Teddi's life as she waited . . . A precious, though bittersweet, glimpse into our daughter's past.

Imagine my surprise when late one night, as I was going through pictures, I came upon this . . .

My joy wrapped up in a pink silk dress! The same dress I had imagined she'd be wearing at our first meeting.

In the background of the picture is her sweet director, the same one who brought Teddi to us in Guangzhou. The picture's data tells me it was taken just 10 days before we met her. On the discs there are also pictures of Teddi that were taken in Zhuhai on the day that she left. In those pictures she is already wearing the teddy bear shirt.

What happened to the pink silk dress? Was she just trying it on when that picture was snapped? We all know that it wasn't typical orphanage attire . . . I've spent a lot of time wondering about the whole scenario. Each time I do I think God winks!

One thing I know for sure . . .

It was our little Fu Xiao’s nannies who dressed her that final morning as they prepared her to leave —but it was God who choose the outfit! He is forever faithful, and He always keeps His promises!

Teddi's tiny shirt will be our forever reminder of that!

Blessings from my nest ~

Tina