Long Road to China - Our Adoption Story


Trustmark National Bank account set up:

Donations can be made nation wide at any Trustmark National Bank through the account:
Phillip Smith or Niki J. Smith's Adoption Account

If you would like to mail a donation, please mail it to
Phil or Niki Smith
P.O. Box 332
Rienzi, MS 38865




Saturday, August 25, 2012

This is our Guan Ya...........


I cannot wait any longer to show you our newest daughter that will unite with us in less than 6 months.  We are sending her a care package to tell her about us & include some American treats, a photobook of her family (Us! ;0)) a journal, & a camera so she can capture everything in China before uniting with us!  


We've been home almost 3 weeks from China & God has placed our Guan Ya in front of us & in our hearts!  We are overjoyed that He would entrust us with another daughter & we are already in love with her as our other 3 children.   At the same time, following His will is the biggest leap of faith we have ever taken! 
Our newest beautiful daughter is 13 years old & will age out of the system March 8th at the age of 14y/o.  Guan-Ya is deaf-mute and such a sweet, smart, & talented girl! She loves to dance and swim, is a straight A student and leader. Even though she has basically nothing, she gives money she has to others less fortunate on the street!  She helps care for others and is so thoughtful by doing things as making cards for others, caring for the younger, and cooking if anyone is sick. 
My heart sank at the thought of God placing our daughter in our hearts and then us walking away from her.  In 6 months, she will age out of the system & will no longer be available for adoption & the love of a Forever Family - Us....her Forever Family!  How could one not love her?  How could we bear the thought of our daughter aging out & being on the streets of China?  Trust me, we've been to China and they do not support disabilities! With our divine Guan Ya being both deaf and mute, no one could even communicate with her on the streets!
Well, you can see why Not adopting our daughter was NOT an option!  We were in love with our child God had led us to so nothing else mattered! 

We are starting ASL ASAP.  Phil, Colt, Macy Jade, GiGi & I will start & we will share with grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, church members, etc so we can all communicate together.  I know everyone is excited to start learning!   If you are interested in learning sign language, we will be glad to help & share resources as we learn.  Guan Ya knows CSL (Chinese Sign Language) so she will also need to learn ASL. 

 We have a lot of work a head of us, but we are very excited!  I know we cannot be fluent in Sign Language overnight, but we all have to start somewhere!  We will  make every effort to make sure Guan Ya (and our other children) has the best of all things/resources needed no matter how much more education & time it takes!  

We love you so much Guan Ya & are already so proud of you!  I cannot wait for all the wonderful things God has in store for someone as talented & awesome as you!  We feel more than blessed that our Lord would entrust us to be your family!


This is our beautiful, intelligent, passionate, loving & talented daughter, Guan Ya!  

We already love her so much & we cannot wait to bring home

to this:



We just hope she loves us 1/2 as much as we love her!

All thanks to my talented photographer, Phil Smith, for the second photo of 2 kids & I!  He has such a way with candid shots!  Contact him ASAP for your appointment! 
(At least I was able to talk him out of putting this pic in Guan Ya's photo-book we are sending her! Geeze!)

I hope Guan Ya & all of you have a sense of humor!  With long journeys & difficult times, we tend to use humor to pass the time at our home!  O.k. we just act crazy most the time, but it makes for a lot of fun memories!
  
Psalm 126:2    "Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongues with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them."




Note:  Our go fund me link has changed to
I don't know if the other link will work or not but it is exactly the same.  I did not realize that you could "personalize" the end of the link when I created that site.  
I have Some of the fees posted on there under "Wish List".    I wanted to post them  so you could see the break down of SOME of the fees we will incur during this adoption of Guan Ya.  If you choose to donate, you do not have to donate the amount of the wish list item!  You can donate to certain items on the wish list or just donate any amount.  If you want your donation to go to a specific fee, you can enter the amount after clicking the wish item box.  

I've typed up a lengthy description to present if you would like to read it; that is on the gofundme link.  Also, I really do not mind you sharing our silly looking photo above (thanks hubby!).  It has our link on it & just might make someone's day.

I have complete faith God will provide!  We continue to thank you for  all of your prayers, support, & words of encouragement!  We have been tremendously busy, but are grateful everyday! God Bless each of you for helping bring these children home!
Niki





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