My ladybug story

I have a story that involves a ladybug. Way back when I had my adoption blog, "Fortunately, Family", I journaled my daily struggles, and celebrations of our adoption journey to China. I told this story on that blog, but a certain little bug just reminded me of it again.

We completed our China adoption paperwork during the summer and fall of 2006. In Nov. all of our paperwork went to China, and we ended up with a LID (log in date) in China of Dec. 26, 2006. We chose an agency with a large waiting child program (special needs) because that meant we could potentially be matched with a one of these children much before they got to our LID. This was our goal. I work with special needs kids, and have for years, and I hoped to be matched with one from China. If we would have chosen to stay in the traditional China adoption program, it appears that we would still be waiting quite a few more years, as this program has slowed down a lot.

The adoption journey can be stressful. We were sent our first referral, a 7 month old baby from the waiting child program. We were so excited, she was so young, adorable, and her needs, upon first glance, appeared minimal. As we talked to Dr's about the issues we saw, a much more difficult health need appeared to emerge. For 3 agonizing months we researched, spoke to Dr's and specialists, and waited for an update from her orphanage. Unfortunately, her orphanage ignored all the requests of our agency. In the end there was the most heartwrenching decision to turn down her referral and many miscommunication issues with our agency. We were treated very poorly by one of the main people that would be potentially matching us with a future waiting child referral. So poorly, that we felt our hands were tied, and at the mercy of this woman we lost all trust in.

I began seeking God more and more in this adoption. Jeff and I had numerous discussions about switching countries, as many others were starting to do at this point. We came very close to making a decision to do this, when one evening at the dinner table we were discussing our options one last time. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something. We both looked over, and when it landed, we noticed it was a baby ladybug! From what I understand, ladybugs are meant to be a sign of good luck, and good things to come in China. In the China adoption world, the ladybug has become a sort of symbol for the hope we have in adopting from China. So, when I realized that a baby ladybug landed right in the middle of us, in the middle of our conversation about whether to stay with China, or move on...I knew. We were to stay. It was just too blatant of a sign. For one thing, we had lived in this house for about 12 years at that point and had NEVER once seen a ladybug in the house. We stayed the course with China...and put our trust in God, knowing that it was Him, not some lady from our agency that would send our daughter to us. A few months later, we had our referral of Lilyann, and Nov. of 2007, a year after our paperwork was sent to China, we brought her home.

Why am I sharing this story again? Well, two days ago, as I sat down at my computer desk that evening...I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye...I looked down, and once again, now three years later, the baby ladybug came back to visit.