THE FINAL UPDATE

Just opened my email to our last update on little Gabriella Mei. Our agency requests one final update before travel, to help with sizes (I hope all the clothes I have for her don't swallow her up! She's tiny!)......She's only 15 lbs. (last update said 17, but updates are known to be off a little. I'm betting she's more like 15 lbs.)

Most of my babies have been 15 lbs by like, 3 or 4 months, (and Nathaniel was 15 lbs at 5 weeks, but he doesn't count, since I birthed a whale when he was born...) so this little one is going to be a shock to my system! I'm so glad we'll get to enjoy her sweet "smallness" for a little bit, since we missed the first year of her life.

They said she has 6 teeth, but I don't believe them, cause I can see at least 7 in the pictures? Who knows.

And----BEST of all----they sent 6 new pictures! I'm so excited, I can hardly breathe. We're so close now, and it is finally seeming REAL that she's ours, that we'll have her in our arms in a matter of DAYS!

Enough chatter----what you really came to see was the pictures, right? Keep in mind, the Chinese BUNDLE their babies, and I've counted at least THREE layers in each of her outfits....:)

Be still, my heart! Isn't she just precious? How will I ever last another 10 days until we finally board that plane to China???

Travel dates, and some random thoughts...

We have our tickets! Our "journey" begins on December 3rd when we fly out of Richmond at 7 am, and ends on December 19th when we land in Richmond at 6pm with our new little girl! Eliana and Ethan are going with us to China, and Nathaniel and Noah are staying home with Meme. My heart hurts already at the thought of leaving my sweet boys behind for 17 long days, but I know it is for a good reason, and they will have a blast with Meme. When I tucked them into bed tonight, I held on a little longer than usual for my goodnight hugs.....I want to cherish these last few days with my boys, because I'm going to miss them terribly!

We land in Nanjing at 7 pm Saturday, December 4th, have a "free" day on Sunday, and get Gabbey Mei on Monday!!!!! Twenty-four hours later, on Tuesday, we will finalize the adoption, and she's all ours. WOW. This is the most incredible, life-changing, emotional, fantastic journey I've ever been on.,,,,,

Brent gave a presentation this morning about one of the missionaries we support in India. During his research for the presentation, he read that there are currently 25 MILLION orphans in India, and 90% of them are girls.....If you took the entire population of the state of Texas and added it to the population of the state of Alaska, you would have approximately 25 MILLION people------I started crying when Brent shared this with me, and cried again during his presentation, especially when HE started crying. There's an oprhan problem in this world, my friends, and putting our hands over our ears, turning our eyes the other way, or putting our head in the sand, so to speak, is NOT doing anything to help the problem. We feel so strongly that EVERY child deserves to be loved, to have hope for their future, and to be exposed to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. And no, we can't fix the problem by ourselves. None of us could. But if each one is willing to examine their hearts, to listen to the calling of the Holy Spirit, to do SOMETHING, anything......

I'm sure many have heard or read of our upcoming adoption and thought HUH? Don't they already have four young children? Why on earth would they want to spend THOUSANDS of dollars to go to China and bring home a child when they already have so many?

Here's why: THE NEED IS GREAT. There are over 143 MILLION oprhans in the world.
We both have felt for many years that we would someday adopt. Not sure exactly how, or when, but we knew WHY. Maybe adopting one child is only a miniscule drop in a vast ocean, but for this child, for OUR child, it means her very life. In China, many orphans don't make it to adulthood, and if they do, they must live with the title "orphan" all of their life. It is nearly impossible for them to get a decent job, and often they must turn to a life on the streets. So, maybe we can't do it all (and trust me, if I could, I would take every single unloved child in the world and love them.....) but we can do our part. We can take one small, fragile, sweet little girl. We can't make a difference for them all. But for Gabriella, it will be all the difference in the world.

Well, I didn't intend to be so "preachy"  tonight :)  I'm sorry. Actually, I'm not, not really. I'm just SO heavy hearted about this right now....plus my emotions are raw as we prepare to travel in 12 days. I just feel like there's GOT to be more we can do. I know that I know that I KNOW that when we tour Gabbey's orphanage in a couple of weeks, when we look into the faces of these orphans, we're  going to want to go back. To do more.  To love more. To give more.

With many of you, I haven't shared some of the deepest dreams of my heart regarding children, adoption, etc.... To those precious few of you who have known me for many, many years, this adoption probably does not come as a surprise. God has been working on my heart in these areas since I was a young girl and first read a biography of Amy Carmichael, the single missionary to India who started an orphanage and rescued hundreds of young girls from a life a prostitution, child marriage, and abandonment. I remember praying then, "Oh, God, use me. Send me. Let me do something for the unloved children of this world."

So, yes, we already have four children, and sure, some days, that feels like ALOT :)......but this adoption is the beginning (or is it the end?) of a dream I've had for so many years. I'm just in awe that the Lord would allow me the privelege of being "Mommy" to one of these precious little ones. Pray WITH  us, dear friends, that God would prepare little Gabriella for the immense changes she's about to go through. Pray FOR us, that He would equip and strengthen us for the parenting journey still ahead of us......may we honor HIM in all we say and do.

TA TODAY!

Give me a "T"----Give me an "A"----what's that spell?

In the China adoption world, it spells....TRAVEL APPROVAL! We have to "go-ahead" to hop on a plane and get our baby!

Well, not quite that fast. We need an appointment at the US Consulate in China, first. That should be scheduled in a day or two. THEN we can buy our tickets and start packing! Our agency requested the CA (consulate appt.) so we would be leaving around DECEMBER 1st----just two short weeks away.

I can hardly breathe I'm so excited. You might think, after birthing four children, having a child (by any means) would be old hat by now.....

NOT SO! This precious new life the Lord is entrusting us with is a gift straight from HIM, just like our biological children are.

Think for just a minute the possible end results of Gabriella's adoption.....1) One orphan off the streets and LOVED unconditionally. 2) One child presented with the love of God and His salvation plan that she most certainly would NOT have learned in communist China. 3) Our bio children being exposed to, learning, and living the experience of adoption. 4) The incredible blessing of having a beautiful child to mold, train, love, guide, and share life's journey with.   I could go on and on, but I'll stop with Number 5-----Perhaps another family out there will have their hearts open to the millions of orphans in the world. They need a family, they need a chance, but most of all, they need the Saviour. Will you be the one to bring them HOPE?

I may be  most definitely WILL be very busy the next two weeks, but I have every intention of blogging frequently while we're on our trip. SO many have asked, listened, prayed, and encouraged us on this journey and I want EVERYONE to get to share in the blessings! So bookmark this page, and check in often for our updates.

Gabriella Mei Bergey, your days in the orphanage are truly numbered now. Sleep sweetly, tonight, little one, for very soon, where once you slept alone, you will sleep in our arms.

Our Last "WAIT"

Well, we're finally at the end of this adoption journey. All of our paperwork is complete, and we're just waiting on our TA (travel approval)....basically this is China's green-light for us to make our travel plans! We should receive our TA within the next couple of weeks, and then we'll purchase our tickets and head for China a couple of weeks after that!

It's funny to me, how very similar these last few weeks are to the final weeks of a pregnancy. I have so many of the same feelings and emotions....you know, the When will the baby come, What will she be like, How will our whole family adjust, Will the other children be okay while I'm "gone", etc. questions...I'm emotional, even more so than usual. I find myself very introspective, another trait that is typical for me in the third trimester. I'm daydreaming and planning ALL THE TIME now, and since those around me can't "see" the baby that's coming, they probably don't understand. Outside commitments are starting to overwhelm me as our family is getting ready to grow and stretch again. I'm quite sure that after we're home and settled, I'll feel better, but for now, I'm just trying to relax and enjoy each day as it comes, and not stress about all the little "what-ifs"!

It will never cease to amaze me how much love I feel for our little Gabbey Mei already. Oh, how I ache to hold her in my arms, to shower her with love and gentleness, to bring her home to her brothers and sister who love her already. So far away, yet such a big part of our family already.

Come on, China! We're ready and waiting! :)