My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

Precious treasures

As most of you probably know, I’m helping a sweet friend of mine Helen (who is actually Lydia’s godmother) with Jiayin Designs. I’ve really enjoyed my part in this venture so far as I’ve gotten to connect with a lot of adoptive families. I want to highlight two of those families here and share the story behind their precious treasures.

This is the Chryst family. I connected with Nicole back in March and have been excited to watch them start the adoption process with our agency. For her daughter Peyton’s 5th birthday, Nicole bought her a very special gift for her to treasure–a charm that says big sister in Chinese. What a wonderful way to invite Peyton into the adoption process and help make Brooke real to her. I love the picture of Peyton looking down at her new necklace–it’s as if I can feel her pride over having a real piece of jewelry now that she’s 5 as well as her wonder and excitement over what it means. Nicole is an amazing photographer, don’t you think? You can see the rest of the pictures of Peyton opening her gift here.

The other precious treasure I wanted to highlight in this post will eventually be worn by a dear woman in Southern China. When the Greig family was weeks away from traveling to China to bring home their sweet 2 year McKenna, they received shocking news that she had passed away. McKenna’s special need was not life threatening, so the news of her death from pneumonia was devastating to say the least. 
In an effort to reach out to the foster mother in China who undoubtedly is grieving too, the Greigs ordered a charm with McKenna’s Chinese name to have a family traveling soon to the same city to hand deliver. When I received the charm from Beijing and prepared to mail it off to the Griegs, I couldn’t help but hold it in my hand and recognize that I had the opportunity to be a part of something very significant. It felt quite sacred to me to be able to hold the charm that would be presented from one grieving mother to another grieving mother. You can read Nikki’s thoughts firsthand about how God is working in her heart here. She wrote a very honest and vulnerable post there. You will be happy to know that the Lord has been active in the Greig family’s life and has provided healing in their grief and has brought them to their daughter. Quinn Lian awaits them, and they are overjoyed to make her their own. She’s such a precious girl and will certainly bring them abundant joy. 

Jiayin Designs has definitely been a great experience for me thus far to be a part of.

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GIVEAWAY: JIAYIN DESIGNS

Directly translated, Jiayin reads beautiful and graceful sound in Mandarin.
When put together, they mean good and beautiful news. And, it’s the same phrase used in the Chinese Bible for the phrase “the mystery of God.”

I have had the privilege of helping Helen, a friend who works with my parents in China, with a new business. And, to be honest, I’m pretty excited about it myself! The most precious gift we were given before we traveled to bring home Lydia was a special charm my mom had a jeweler make for me in Beijing. It was a sterling silver charm, hand cut from a sheet of silver, of Lydia’s Chinese name, Mei Yue, which means “beautiful moon.” I just loved it. I wore it everyday in China and loved when people there would notice it and ask if it was our daughter’s name. In fact, one of the orphanage staff noticed it around my neck and commented to our translator about it. I hope it showed them how much we treasured our daughter’s history.

I’m excited to be working with Helen and make these available to other families! Jaiyin Designs is selling all sorts of hand cut silver charms. Take a look, and think creatively. Do you have a child who is not Chinese as well as a Chinese child? Perhaps you could get 2 charms – one with your child’s Chinese name and one with the meaning of your child’s American name (e.g., Ashlyn means “tree by the water” which would make for a really cool charm). Or, get a charm with your child’s Chinese name, a “mother” charm, and a “big sister” charm. The jeweler will make any characters you want, and each one is one of a kind.

And, in an effort to draw people to the site and get some new business, Helen has given me the go ahead to give a charm away! The winner will be able to get any charm of his or her choice and free shipping (a value of $60). To enter, leave a comment on this post and share what charm you think would be your first choice. Leave a second comment for a second entry if you blog about this giveaway on your own blog (please provide a link to your blog post). I will close the giveaway on Friday, May 28th at midnight and do the drawing that weekend. I’ll contact the winner as well as post about it here! (If you don’t have a public blog linked to your blogger profile, leave me your email address as well so that I can contact you.)

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