Sunday, July 30, 2006

Introducing Jaili Joi!!



We have been blessed beyond belief and are proud to announce the referral of our daughter....
Yang Xi Shuo Shuo soon to become Jaili Joi (pronounced Jaylee)!! Her birthday is Dec 30, 2005. She is currently 7 months old today! She weights 12.8 lbs and is 24 inches long. She is described as smiling constantly, loves to be around people and is a deep sleeper. Her favorite toy is a bell. She was found the day that she was born by a gas station. She is currently in the Yangxi Social Welfare Institution. We are anxiously awaiting our travel approval which should come in about 2-4 months. We are praying for the 2 month wait, but we know that it is God's timing and his timing is perfect. Soon we will be holding our sweet baby girl that we have been waiting for. Isn't she beautiful!!!!!! I'll post more about the area where she is from later. Updates will come when we get them. We will also be posting picts and updates from China.

We have a daughter!


On July 17th, 2006 Shane and I had just arrived at the Oregon coast. Shane was attending a middle school conference with a few school chums and I decided to go with him to have a few relaxing days at the coast. Mila (our dog) I and went to Depoe Bay for a walk and some window shopping and on our way back to the hotel I received a phone call. I decided that I would let voicemail get it and just return the phone call when I got back to the room. As soon as we returned I listened to the message to find that it was our social worker Kathie asking me to call her as soon as I got the message. I figured it was a check up call because time frames were increasing so much, so I gave her a call. We talked for a bit and then she told me that the China team had called her and that they had a file of a baby girl for us to look at!!! I was in complete and total shock! I let her know that she should just tell me all the information because I had no words to say at the moment. She gave me all the information on our daughter and I said I would call her back (mostly because I was still in shock and my brain wasn't working) after I talked to Shane. I called Shane and when he answered the phone he said that the phone would not turn off while he was in the middle of the conference so he had to answer it to make it stop ringing! I said that it was meant for him to answer the phone because Holt just called and they have a baby for us!!! Shane told me he fell on his knees as soon as he heard that. We were both in complete and utter amazement! Shane took a break from the conference and I met him while he made the phone call to Kathie to ask here when we could get the file! We found out we could get it the next morning. I left the hotel at 7:00am the next morning and drove to Portland to get the paperwork for our daughter. As soon as I got her information I called Shane and described our beautiful daughter and read him everything that we were given about her! I then drove to Salem to have my mom and the doctor she works with, a pediatric doctor and our family doctor look at her medical information and after that back to the coast. It was almost a full day's worth of driving but completely worth it. After talking with doctors and reviewing her file Shane and I prayed and decided that she was the daughter that God had intended for us. (I think we knew she was our daughter as soon as we got the call). We called Holt the next day and accepted her referral! We are overjoyed and cannot wait to see her precious face in person. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. Shane and I have been blessed so much with an outstanding family and wonderful friends.