What a difference a year makes!!

One year ago on Orphan Sunday Lauren and I shared with our church that we were not adopting one child from China...we were adopting two!!! Not long after we travelled to China and came home the first week of January with Davidson He Yi Ayres and Elisabeth Ming Yu Ayres.  At 20 months DD fit in to the family right away.  He was a baby.  Loving him and feeding him captured his heart.  He fell in love with his Mother immediately and with the rest of us quickly enough.  He has continued to blossom, and has brought so much joy to our home.  Adjustment to a new life did not come so easily for Elisabeth.  At 13 years old she had no idea of the horrible future that she most likely faced.  Her physical needs were met in the orphanage, no one pressured her to learn or the work hard, and as far as she knew life would continue like that indefinitely.  She definitely didn't feel "rescued" by this crazy American family who claimed to love her before they ever met her. Since arriving home we have had many good days.  We have also had our share of bad!  What a difference a year can make. 

Yesterday, Elisabeth came to Lauren and told her that she wanted to accept Jesus into her heart.  Overwhelmed is by far an understatement. We have prayed countless times that her heart would be changed, but had no idea that God would answer those prayers yesterday.  For 13 years of her life Elisabeth was taught that Jesus was merely a fable.  In her country the most common religion is none, and she was in the majority.  But if you believe Ephesians, our God can do immeasurably more than any of us can imagine.  He could have saved her in China, but He chose instead to bring her to America, make her part of our family, and save her here.  You can't imagine how humbling that is for us.  All I can do is thank God that he chose to use my family for his eternal glory.  Elisabeth still has a lot of work to do in her English and the rest of her education.  She is also still learning all that family means.  She is about to experience her first Thanksgiving and her first Christmas.  Imagine that.  Last year on Christmas she knew nothing about the love of Christ.  This Christmas she will celebrate as an adopted daughter of the one true King!!! (As we say here in Gadsden, if that don't light your fire, your wood's wet!!!).  With all that she has to learn, she has made the most important decision that she will ever make.  However, she didn't want to stop there.  After asking God to forgive her from her sins and to save her from an eternity separated from Him, she asked if she could share her testimony in front of the church.  I have attached a video of her from church today. I'm a little biased, but I think she did a wonderful job.

Just a little about our current adoption.  We are still in the process of adopting Zheng Jian Xiang.  We were informed on Friday our dossier was sent to China.  Now we wait to be logged in with China.  We still anticipate that we will travel sometime during the Spring to get our son.  Prayers for his safety and our patience are greatly appreciated.