Adoption Makes Six: The many faces of Mercy

I want to share a few pictures that we have received along the way. You can see how she has changed since we first met her in November. I want to plug a private service called Lady Bugs N' Love who we have been blessed to use. They are a third party service in Ch*na who offers care package services, cake deliveries, picture and update requests as well as letter translation if you would like to write your child during the wait. The benefit of using someone in country is that anything shipped from here will cause the orphanage or foster home to be charged import taxes. Many of these places do not have the money to pay these fees and will turn care packages and gifts away. When you use a source like Lady Bugs N' Love then everything is bought and shipped in Ch*na. We have put her service to use many times during the last 5 months. Early on we sent a care package with an outfit, a stuffed panda, a photo album with pictures of our family, treats for all the kids in the orphanage and a letter introducing ourselves Mercy. Around the Chinese New Year we sent Mercy a winter red silk dress and some more treats for all the kids and care takers. For her birthday we had a cake, blanket and other gifts delivered. Most recently we sent a letter to her care takers with a pair of sunglasses and a hat for Mercy. We explained how the sunglight or any bright light hurts her eyes and these items would help her. We asked that they please use them when they bring her to Shijiazhuang on Gotcha Day. We thanked them for caring for her these first two years of her life. We also thanked them for going above and beyond to keep us connected to her during the wait with lots of pictures and three videos. I truly believe in my heart that they have cared for her to the best of their ability. I don't believe Mercy has been intentionally or maliciously neglected at all. Her care takers have given us gifts in these moments of her life that they have captured for us. Every time I watch the videos I see people who genuinely care for her. I not only believe that the care takers adore her, but the other children seem to get a kick out of her too. They are sweet with her and went out of their way to make her birthday special. I keep saying to Scott that I think they are really going to miss her and that breaks my heart for the loss they will grieve. I try to remember that often and pray for them. This little girl will have left a mark on their hearts and when we bring her home I do believe they will miss her. They may be excited for her to have a family, but they will miss her all the same. I also find my heart breaking for the other kids in the pictures and videos. Each child that I have seen has captivated me in some way or another. They are going to watch her leave and know she is getting family, BUT they long for a family too and they will be left behind. That is hard, really hard to swallow. I know I can't save the world, I know we are only called to this one precious little girl (for now), but I also know that every single one of those children deserves a family to love them and a place to call home! Things are not as they should be. This world is so backwards and upside down.

I hope I get to meet many of these kids in person. There is one little boy in particular who also has albinism. We are planning to take him some sunglasses and baseball caps. We have a picture of him outside and you can tell the sun is bothering him as his eyes are closed and his head hangs low. So hopefully we will have the privilege of meeting him and giving him these gifts to help him. If nothing else we will send them back with the orphanage director and pray hard that they make it to this little boy.

If you look at these pictures the running theme in every single one is a beautiful, healthy-looking and very smiley little girl who I can't wait to meet. I long to see that same smile directed at me and to munch on those chubby cheeks!

So here you go, a little glimpse of the many faces over Mercy over the past 5 months...