Hello Friends! We have had an AMAZING first week with Miss. Kylie. She is full of energy, and she loves to test the limits, but she is never without a smile. Here a few (poor quality) pictures that I pulled off my phone.

Stay tuned for actual-journal updates from my mom. As you can imagine, she has been busy transitioning back after being away for two weeks.

Thank you for your prayer! Please continue to pray that Kylie would feel at home, here in Lancaster County, and that she would continue enjoying Preschool!

The Lord has answered so many of our prayers, and we are only two weeks into this new journey. Kylie is absolutely beautiful, and my dad said that Kate is the best big sister in the ENTIRE WORLD! I am so proud to call myself a Kauffman, and I am so excited to meet my newest family member in less than 24 hours. Apparently these pictures were taken when they were making their trek towards the airport! Thank you for all your prayers, and we would ask that you continue to pray for the family as we adjust to the new dynamics.

Fun Day at the Pool! 

I had to make this a separate post because it is a BEAUTIFUL picture of three of the most beautiful women in my life. I love them and I am so excited for them to be home. 

More pictures! I can not wait to hear their stories. I believe this first one is from a physical therapy session. 

My Grandma sent me these pictures and said, "Hanging out with Grandma"... This Little One is RIDICULOUSLY spoiled and I hope she feels totally loved. 

Praise the Lord for this Little Lady's smile and enthusiasm. He is sovereign and has brought Miss. Kylie into our family, that we would see His joy through her bright personality. Thank you for your prayers!

Shira Here - Thank you all for your love and support through this process. We covet your prayers as my parents, Kate, and Grandma strive to know and understand Miss. Kylie. Please pray specifically for a peaceful heart as they navigate the many legal processes and relational building processes. I am attaching a two pictures - I do not know the story behind them but I am encouraged to see how comfortable she seems in the strong arms of her new earthly father. She has no idea how blessed she is to be placed in the arms of that man. More so, I pray that she would learn to see her Heavenly Father through these experiences. Praise Him for all things that have been made NEW in these last few days

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Hello Friends and Family -

My parents are having issues logging on to the blog while in China (due to their attempts to minimize social media use). So I, Shira, will be passing on pictures updates for you all to enjoy. My hearts leaps for joy every time I see that my phone is receiving another picture. I can not wait to share them all with you.

My parents have said that Miss. Kylie Kauffman is full of joy. According to my Dad, "she's full of energy and is always smiling!... She has learned to say 'grandma' already!". I am so excited to meet her in about a week and a half.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

Here We Go....

I will be posting pictures and short updates periodically over our two weeks in China. Below I have posted our story up until this point. Please feel no pressure to read these journal entries below.  I’m guessing you all simply logged onto this sight to see a couple pictures as we adopt our little Kylie.  Any one close to me knows I can’t spell for the life of me, I’m terrible grammatically, and I just plain don’t journal or write.  However I didn’t want to forget any of the details of this last year so I put it all on paper for Kylie to read some day.    But I decided to share this story, not to give any glory to myself but all to God.  (Quite honestly most days I stink at this thing called life.  I get down, grouchy, jealous, fearful, and I’m just plain not nice!)  So if you do decide to continue reading, grab a cup of coffee and find a comfy spot…

October 4th, 2015 (Sunday):

I’m sitting at the hunting camp right now, making lists, schedules for the children at home, and going over adoption paperwork.  We leave for China in 4 days; yes I questioned the timing of this 48 hour get away.  Lee is archery hunting this weekend and his birthday is in 2 days so I decided to surprise him.  I’m so thankful I did as he is outside moving the tree stand; I’ve had time to conquer my list.  One of which was catching up on my journal.  God also knew I needed this quiet time before we leave.  The last couple months have been one of ups and downs in this busy season of life.  I’ve just come to realize that is part of the adoption process.  We were hoping to have our I800 approvals beginning of July and they came more than a month later.  We needed to file an addendum due to our home study showing we were adopting a 6-10 year old and when we filed for LiLi she was just shy of 6.  Then there was the call 3 weeks ago on a Monday can you leave Saturday.  I was in panic excitement mode but said sure.  Each day that week was one more disappointment, too many holidays, so we couldn’t get the required days in her province before heading to the consulate in Guangzou, expensive flights, and a huge trade show making hotels double the cost.  Waiting is another huge part of adoption.  I’ve learned I have no patience.  I’d check emails 20X a day looking for our dates to travel.  Finally the email came and all the civil affair appointments in her province, medical visits and the consulate appointment were scheduled and we had travel dates of Oct.  8 - Oct. 21.  Looking back once again I say to myself why I didn’t trust God, as he knew the perfect timing.  Leaving in mid-October allowed Kate to get a good start at school before being pulled out for two weeks, I was able to peacefully get ready for our travels, and I’m only missing one week of Cody’s soccer season.  God is so good!  HERE WE COME CHINA…

June 11th, 2015 (Thursday):

I’m a little overwhelmed this morning as I’m doing my devotions.  The tears are coming as I think of God’s goodness and how clear he was that LiLi is to be in our family.  The phone rings and Simi is on the line.  She says the oddest thing happened.  My heart sinks and my first thought is, was the hold on LiLi released and she was assigned to another family.  Simi realizes I’m scared and says no it’s a good thing.  I start breathing again and she explains we already have our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China.   I ask how this happened and she said there is no explanation; in fact it is absurd and unexplainable.  This means it saves time in our process and we could travel in 8 to 10 weeks.  Again I’m overwhelmed with God’s goodness, and know God once again did a little miracle for us.

June10th, 1015 (Wednesday)

Today was a race and a bit of a blur.  Kate had a swim party with little girls from her class after school celebrating the last day.  Our family doctor could only meet us at 4pm to review her medical papers.  I knew I couldn’t cancel Kate’s party as this was all she talked about the last couple weeks and had been baking for it the last two nights.  I considered having someone come and watch the girls while I went.  My running buddy and dear friend, Chelle encouraged me to not leave Kate and her friends as there would be enough things coming up that would need to change in our family due to the new little girl.  This party was so important to Kate.  She was right I needed to be there for Kate.  Then I thought of Mom Kauffman and how much medical knowledge she has and I felt a total peace.  

Simi got back to me with the family’s email address and I emailed them immediately.

I don’t think it was even 15 minutes and the pictures and video footage of this little girl were being sent my way.  Not only did she know this little girl but she had updated medical information from the fall, and pictures from just last week.  I was overwhelmed with excitement and awe of how awesome a God we serve!  Kelly and her husband started an organization called Sparrow Fund.  I was so impressed with their hearts and mission.  Kelly warned us if we were not going to an international adoption doctor he would most likely be very negative about this adoption.  Kelly said she clearly remembered the doctors working with her in the fall at the orphanage.  They gave her tasks of beading necklaces, pulling off stickers, and other fine motor skills with her good hand.  At the end of testing the doctors looked at each other and said with smiles “she is going to be ok”.  I ask Kelly why she had so many pictures and videos of Kylie.  She said “it’s just the smile Kris”.   Kelly said her nick name is LiLi (sounds like LeeLee)

Lee, Mom K, and I had a 10 minute impromptu meeting by the pond while Kate and her friends swam to go over everything I had learned that day about LiLi.  I felt a total peace as they left for the Doctor’s office.  As the swimming party was wrapping up Lee and mom K pulled in.  I saw smiles on their faces so I knew right away our family doctor had given the ok.  They gave me a quick overview of the meeting.  Dr. Vollmar felt the heart was repaired well watching her dance in one of the videos, and if not he said we have one of the best heart hospitals in the states next to us in Philly.  The cleft palate pictures revealed it was done well and the right limbs could be different scenarios but most likely due to lack of oxygen due to the heart condition. 

Lee and I felt without a doubt God had revealed in numerous ways LiLi was to be our little girl.  It is very unusual to get a lot of pictures and videos of a child from another source than the referral, to have someone who lives one hour from our house who just saw this little girl a week ago, her nickname is her new daddy’s name, and last of all favor from our doctor.  We knew each of these signs from God meant she was to be the newest Kauffman.  We emailed Simi our case worker and said YES.

June 9th, 2015 (Tuesday)

Another list is being released this morning.  I try not to get my hopes up.  I’m at work and quickly check for an email before walking into a yearly review with my boss/friend.  My heart stops a beat as I see an email from Simi stating she has a hold on an eight year old.  I read the medical list of medical conditions in the email and I’m scared.  This little girl has been thru a lot and has more hurdles to cover.  For some reason I feel drawn to her and I have not even gotten her file from Simi yet.  I go into my review totally scattered and share with Heidi why I can’t focus.  I also tell Heidi about the other referral we declined and how hard this has been for me.  Heidi encourages me that these children will get parents, and we were not the ones, and I need to take the pressure off myself.  Very simple encouragement but it was what I needed.  What if we say no to this little girl?  Will our agency think less of us?  Who will adopt her?  Should I even agree to look at this file if the medical conditions seem overwhelming?  Could I even say no after seeing a child’s face.  I call Lee and he says lets at least review the child’s record. 

My dear friend Melissa is stopping by to pick up a kitten and I ask if she has 15 extra minutes to help me come up with a list of questions for our adoption agency about this case.  I left work and met her at the house.  It was so good to briefly talk with her and calm down.  We came up with a list of the most important questions. 

I called Simi back asking many things, but specifically about this orphanage. What can she tell me about it?  She mentioned a family that adopted from this orphanage a couple years back and now takes a team of doctors every fall.  Simi said she would email this family to see if it would be ok for us to contact them. 

I went back to work to finish out my day.  It was 8:30 pm till Lee and I had a chance to review and open up this little girls file.  I fell in love with this little girl instantly!  All the medical information and pictures were over a year and a half old.  Lee noticed her birthday date and said she isn’t eight but five right now.  Talk about having to switch gears with my thinking.  I was happy in many ways that she was younger…less competition between Kate and her, more time to have an influence, and less catch up in school. 

She had already at only 5 had cleft palate surgery and heart surgery.  She also had limited use of her right limbs.  So many questions run thru your mind.  Could she take care of herself?  Was she able to walk?  With medical care in the states would she regain movement in her right leg and arm.  How would her classmates treat her when they would see she is different? Ok Lord we beg of you to make it clear if Chen Hui Li is our little girl.  Lee and I agreed we would do some research the next day.  We have 24 hours to sign a letter of intent and then 72 hours to say we accept or do not accept. That night we prayed (or I should say begged) in bed that God would make it clear.