Less than two weeks ago, we lost a woman in our church to cancer. We are in a small church, in a close body, a body who will feel the loss significantly. As my husband led the prayer last Sunday in our worship service, in light of her homegoing, he read the following passage of scripture:

John 14:2-4 — “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

As I listened to Mark read God’s word, I couldn’t help but consider the last 6 weeks of our lives since we saw Lydia for the first time. Everyday has involved some sort of preparations. I’ve purchased bottles, some tiny clothes and shoes, and a couple toys. We’ve rearranged furniture and put together a crib. We’ve gotten rid of things to make room for her things. We’ve cleaned, organized, and painted. We’ve researched what we need to do for her once she comes home. We dream about her, picture her with us, and talk about her often. We’ve been preparing our children for their sister as best we can. We’ve also been making packing lists and notes and preparations for the trip itself to bring her home. And, we’ve sent her and her caretakers a package to prepare her and them for our bringing her home. And, we have prayed for her and prayed for her and enlisted others to pray for her.

And, every preparation has been a joy. How we long to see all of our efforts come to fruition soon!

So, then I think about the Lord Jesus Christ who has promised to prepare to place for us in Heaven. I’ve heard this Scripture many times; perhaps it’s too familiar to me, too casual. But, I am viewing it now in a deeper way. He has allowed me to get a glimpse of what He is doing for each one of His children, for me. If I am so actively preparing for our daughter Lydia, how much more is He preparing for us to live with Him for eternity? What a comfort and encouragement to know that He loves me more even than I love my own children and desires to spend eternity with me. Even now, the angels rejoice over me and look forward to my arrival. He is even now preparing a place for me and preparing me for when I will see Him face to face.

Thankful today that Sandy is with her maker and enjoying His presence and all of the ways He has prepared a perfect place for her.

We were very surprised today to receive an update on our baby girl! Our social worker/miracle worker had requested it just yesterday. What a blessing to get an email today with some answers to questions and see new pictures of our little girl! We had come up with a list of questions–some of the meaning got lost in translation a bit. But, we were thankful to learn what we learned here —

What does she do during the day? [We had wanted to know her daily routine or schedule.] She often plays with kids at the activity room or outside if it is a nice day.

One month ago today at about 10pm, we saw our daughter Lydia’s face for the first time. Here is the first picture we saw. We are guessing she was about 4 months old in this picture since that was her age at the time the paperwork was completed. She certainly was a teeny tiny peanut, don’t you think? I think my first words actually were “Wow, she’s teeny!” Here are the other pictures we received at the time.

Now, a month later, we’re counting the days until we get our Travel Approval (TA) so that we can buy some plane tickets to bring her home. It’s crazy to think that 1 month and 1 day ago, we were wondering if we’d ever find our Chinese daughter. Then, God miraculously brought her to us.

Lydia lives in Shaanxi province near where the terra-cotta warriors are. If you aren’t familiar with the terra-cotta warriors, they are funeral art that a farmer discovered in 1974. They date back to 210 B.C. and number over 9,000 soldiers, horses, and chariots, etc. The first Chinese emperor Qin had them made for him for his burial place because he expected to rule a world in his afterlife. We’ll get to visit this site with Lydia. Looking forward to seeing that.

This is the isolation room where all newly admitted babies go first. It’s hard to imagine a little child in that incubator by himself or herself. The word isolation itself grieves me.

This is the babies’ playroom. It’s a cute little area. This is where one of Lydia’s original referral pictures were taken because it has the square flooring under her bouncy seat in the picture.