Her favorite color is Red

Until yesterday, the last picture we had of Elie was from last summer.  The last update of any kind was from December 1st.  My heart was growing weary from the weight of the wait.  I wanted something, anything, crying for a crumb of information.  Last week was very hard.  The questions  and fears surrounding us going to China and Elie coming home, Kevin's upcoming busy travel season, all of my children's birthdays, the end of school, preparing Faith's postplacement reports and Elie's care package,  compounded the intense longing in my soul for my daughter.  And here we were at another change of season with no more answers then when we entered into the last one.  There were lots of tears, some moments of panic, times when the frustration came out as anger, times of questioning, times of pure exhaustion and  I was beginning to spiral and was desperate for God to throw me a line of hope.  Until yesterday...

Three beautiful pictures of my daughter playing and smiling.  We had prepared our hearts to see a little girl who was no longer the chubby toddler of the picture from last year.  You can see traces of the baby in our old photograph but our new ones show a little girl.  There is a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face that makes me think she is going to have some personality to add to our team.  She was moved from her foster home into an orphanage in March for some therapy.  I am sure the transition was difficult, but we are taking it as an answer to our prayers - that she would be ready to be a part of our family and that she would receive the treatment she needs.  I love that one of her regular therapies is accupunture.  I love that she helps with the smaller children.  I love that she is smiling in all of her pictures.  I love that she gets the opportunity to go to classes for special needs children.  I love that she is will already be accustomed to therapy before she comes home.  I love that she has a special friend her age and we know that friend's name.  I love that she is wearing a pair of shoes that have frogs smiling at her on the toes.  And most of all I love that I now know something personal about  my daughter, that I know something that she loves..... her favorite color is red.