The Jackson Family

“I'm convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

As Christmas of 2007 approached, my heart was heavy. Two years before we had announced to our friends and family our plan to adopt a girl from China. At the time, the process was taking about six months after China received a family’s paperwork. We began our process January 1, 2006 and almost immediately there was a drastic slowdown in referrals from China. As I hung an empty Christmas stocking for Claire yet again, my heart felt as if it would break into as I began to accept the fact that she may never come home.

For months Jamie and I had doubted whether or not God had a child for us in China. We prayed about having other biological children. We prayed about adopting from another country instead. We prayed about adopting a child from our agency’s Special Needs list. I felt as though my prayers were bouncing off the ceiling. It felt like God wasn’t answering. But He was… His answer was “wait.”

During the process, I fell in love with 5 different children on Christian World Adoption’s Special Needs list. Each time Jamie said, “That is a beautiful child, but it is not my child.” I prayed that God would change Jamie’s heart, but he was steadfast. That is certainly why God has made him the spiritual leader of our home. I fell in love with every child I saw, but Jamie had the discernment to recognize God’s plan!

Tuesday December 6, 2007, we received a life-changing email. We had been selected to review the file of Yang Mo Li. This time Jamie knew this was our daughter. We were stepping out on faith. Moli was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. Her lip had been repaired, and she had one repair surgery for her cleft palate. She was also much older than we had planned- she would be over three by the time we could ring her home.

I remember the first time I saw her. She was on our agency’s mid-October Special Needs list. I thought she was the cutest little thing with her big smile and curls. She was described as active and talkative. She loved to watch the Peking Opera Show. What a big personality! I thought “A very lucky family will get to call this child daughter.”

I never considered that she was ours. She was almost the age of our biological daughter and we had never really considered parenting a cleft affected child.

But God had other plans. In mid-November, we spent a very special weekend with ladies near and dear to my heart. During the summer some other Christian World Adoption moms and I began a Bible study together every Thursday night online. There is a special bond between adoptive moms, especially when you wait together. It is as if no one else can understand exactly what you experience at the time. What a fun time we have every Thursday night.

When Karen in California planned a trip to Charlotte to sail in a regatta, we knew we had to meet. Karen, Carmi, Melissa, and I spent a wonderful weekend together. Carmi has two beautiful children from China, one adopted from a recent Special Needs list. Melissa last year adopted a beautiful daughter with a cleft lip and palate.

After meeting these children, I felt lead to ask about Yang Mo Li. She had a waiting list of five other families. Good for her, I thought, knowing God would surely have to move mountains for this to be my daughter.

And that is what He did! She was meant to be ours.

We told Grace, our four year old biological daughter, the news before her birthday party. We wrapped up a picture of Moli as a present. We were so anxious. What would she think of an older child? How would she react to her obvious special need? She tore open the present and said, “That’s exactly how I wanted my sister to be.” Jamie and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes. Then Grace added, “But I hope I get a real present too.”

As our dossier had been logged in and reviewed many months before, we didn’t wait much longer. In just three months we were on a plane to China!

The moment we first saw her was magical. She was such a bundle of energy that our pictures from Gotcha Day are just a blur of perpetual motion. She did stop just long enough to touch my face and say “mama,” melting my heart, of course. She recognized me from a family photo I had sent to her foster family. They had obviously worked very hard to prepare her for our arrival.

God’s hands were all over our adoption in little miracles all along the way. The adoptive family of Moli’s foster sister found us and was able to provide us over 40 pictures of Moli from age four months to Gotcha Day. Oh how we treasure these photos of the time we missed! We are also able to have a relationship with this special family, albeit a long distance one.

One of God’s greatest miracles throughout this process was a chance run-in with her foster family. Because Moli had been sent back to the orphanage for three months prior to our arrival, we elected not to meet the foster family. God again had other plans. How do you say thank you to the family who raised your daughter as their own for over three years? My heart just ached as I watched the three of them cling together, cry, and say goodbye. Her Mama held her and sobbed and said, “This is your new mama. This is a better life for you. Go to America. They will take you to Pizza Hut.”

From that moment, Moli accepted the permanency of the situation. We have dealt with grief, understandably, but she has adjusted so quickly and beautifully. All in all, she has been the most amazing trooper. I love her strong will and sass- the exact qualities that helped her survive in China, lying underfed and malnourished due to her cleft lip and palate in an orphanage crib for the first four months of her life. We have records that say she was placed in foster care due to a “fight” in her eyes. Orphanage workers could sense a will to live.

She is a constant source of joy and laughter. One of the most beautiful parts of the process has been watching the relationship grow between sisters. Yesterday in line at Costco the girls walked arm in arm. A nice gentleman asked Grace, “Is that your best friend?” “Yes,” she replied, “And she’s my sister too.”