Beginnings and Endings

In late December 2010, in a town nestled in the heart of the cradle of Chinese civilization, a baby girl was found on the steps of the local hospital's surgery deparment.  She was estimated to be 2 months old at the time she was found and was in need of medical treatment for some congenital problems.

Per protocol on finding abandoned children, a search was made for the baby girl's parents and a finding ad was taken out in the local newspaper, but no one came forward to claim her.  After spending time in a local orphanage, she was sent to a different province to a foster care facility.  She received good care at this facility by some amazing people, but even the best orphanage or foster facility can never adequately replace a child's parents.

In January 2013, we received the referral of this beautiful little lady, Li Meng Di.  After praying about her, God made it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt this was our daughter.  We pushed to get our paperwork finished as soon as possible so we could one day be able to bring her home.  It seemed like it would be forever before that day would come.  While we were waiting, our little daughter grew....

and grew....

Sometimes before new beginnings, there has to be endings.  That is where we're all at right now.  Our paper journey is coming to an end, as well as our daughter's time without a family.  This week, China granted us approval to travel.  That was the last huge step we were waiting for.  In less than 3 weeks, on 8/7, we will be on a plane going to China to meet and adopt this beautiful little gal with whom we have been so head-over-heels over for the past 8 months.  Li Meng Di will soon officially be Lily-Mei Claire MengDi Steinberg, and she will finally have her new beginning. 

Please pray for Lily-Mei as we prepare to travel to get her.  We are taking her away from everything she's ever known, and she is going to be grieving for a while.  We will have almost 3 weeks of living out of hotel rooms and no real stability at first.  Once we get home, she'll have lots of medical appointments, tests, blood work, etc., to endure, so that's not fun for anyone.  Plus, there will be the language barrier for a while and us trying to figure out what things she can and can't eat well with her open palate.  On top of that, she will have all these new siblings to deal with.  All of that's enough to want to make anyone cry! 

Thank you for following along on our journey to bring Lily-Mei home to her forever family.  We are so glad to be able to shift gears from the adoption process to the person.  The process and paperwork take up so much of our time and attention that sometimes it's easy to get discouraged, but now that we are almost done, it is easier to keep sight that the whole thing is about something so much bigger than paperwork and dates.  Adoption is a beautiful picture of redemption.  As Christians, God has adopted us, brought us into His forever family.  He gave everything for us.  We are so humbled and amazed that He would do that for us! 

We are so thankful that He would let us have a little picture of that in our life as we bring Lily into her new forever family with us and shower her with love and grace, just as He showers love and grace on us!  Amazing!