Beauty Mark

Many of you are probably wondering what echo's special need is. or if you already know it, you are probably wondering how it is looking/doing. echo has tested slightly positive for anemia and has a hemangioma on her right forearem. her arm looks great. it is barely raised, barely. slightly blueish gray in color. it is soft like the rest of her little arm. we hardly even notice it. as a matter of fact, i almost love that mark on her. it's her beauty mark, it's what led us to her. without it, we may have never met. we have not been to the dr here yet so we may find out a little more. i think that will be a quick check, however. we won't know too much more about her until we take her to our dr in the states. i have fears every once in awhile that we've gotten too lucky. that there must be more. that it will be found once we get home. but i have to push those thoughts out. it's no different than when i held my infants for the first time and worried for their health and safety the moment i layed eyes on them. it's a mother's job. to be concerned for her children. again, i push it aside and give it God.

today we went sight-seeing with some other familes. really we pretty much just walked around. it was fun and interesting getting to know some of the other families with our agency. there is one precious woman who is here adopting her 6th and 7th! that's right, she has 3 biological children and has adopted 7. she now has 10 children!!! her husband is a corn farmer and was unable to come so one of her daughters is with her and her sister in law came as well. i'm both astounded and amazed at her. i love to hear her story and her faith and how God led her to this point. all I kept praying was, oh, Lord.....please....not 10! haahaha seriously, though. she's a really cool and fun woman. i could have sat down with her for hours and it would not have been enough.

the humidity here is intense. much like camboidia except this time i'm carrying a 25lb baby in a sling! much different in that sense. my right arm is seriously sore. not only is she a heavy little package but she is wild. she doesn't hook her feet around me when i carry her, she just flings and flits around, taking in all the sights and sounds. she is busy. oh is she busy. she will be walking in no time. we are sure of it. i have a feeling i've got my work cut out for me with this little one.

tomorrow we go to her orphanage. we are meeting rebecca at 8 am to take a van out to Yangchun. it will take around 2-3 hours to get there. i'm looking forward to it and i'm dreading it. i'm looking forward to it because i get to see where her home has been for the last year. i get to have an idea of how her life was and maybe meet some of her little crib mates. i'm dreading it for the exact same reasons. i've been to orphanages before, and no matter how good the orphanage is, it's still an orphanage. a place where children have no parents. helpless, precious little ones who have no mommy to kiss their pain away and no daddy to throw them around and make them giggle. my stomach turns when I think about it.

but then i see it. her beauty mark. our first connection to one another. the very same thing that scares me brings me joy. it's my reminder of what brought us together. it's what got her out of the orphanage. it was her ticket to freedom. i can't help but pray for all of the other children and their "beauty marks". whatever marks they may have, i'm praying for them.