Craig & Trina S.
China 2015

From as young as I can remember, I (Trina), have always wanted to adopt an Asian girl. My parents tell me that it all started when I was around 10 and we visited a distant family member who had adopted a Chinese girl. While I don't recall this specific moment, I have plenty of other memories from my childhood centered on my fascination with the Asian culture and wanting to be friends with all the Asians at my school! The interest stayed with me, and it didn't take me long to figure out that this was more than just an interest, but a call God had placed on my heart, even at such an early age, that meant one day I would adopt!

Adopting internationally was something that was shared very early on when Craig and I began dating. Craig immediately latched on to this vision as well, and we knew that somewhere down the road, God willing, adoption would be in our future.

Fast forward about seven years after marriage and having two little boys of our own, to the point when we were finally 30! While most people cringe at reaching this milestone, we were eager, as it meant we were now old enough to begin the process of bringing our daughter home! We began with our home study in the Fall of 2012, when our youngest was only a few months old. Time went by quickly as we marched on with paperwork after mountain of paperwork, and then finally, one fateful fall morning of this past year, we received THE call. The circumstances surrounding the timing of the call made it even all the more special. Leading up to that day, my mother had spent the previous year in and out of the hospital. Come last July her condition worsened to the point of being placed in a nursing home. Her health was fading quickly, and we all knew it was only a matter of time before she passed. On September 19, my dad called around 8 in the morning, telling me that this was the day. She had been placed in the ICU the night before, but he had called to say that death was imminent. As I scurried to figure out what I was going to do with our two and four year old little boys so I could make it down to the hospital, I received another call. Could it really be? Why was my adoption agency calling? I answered the phone, already having been covered in tears, to hear the caseworker tell me that she'd like to tell me about a little girl. Oh, what a roller-coaster of emotions were felt that day. My heart immediately latched onto the somber looking girl in the picture, A friend came over that morning so that I could forward this little girl's case onto our medical team, and then I left, for one last time, to go be with my mother. She died that afternoon shortly after I left the hospital. "Blessed be the name of the Lord-he gives and takes away." Oh how the words of this song had a sudden new meaning in our lives. While one life had been taken away, another life had been granted to us that fateful day. While this precious angel was miles away and still months from being in our arms, we knew without a doubt that this was our little girl.

Emotions continued to roll after finding out a few weeks after accepting her referral that her medical needs were much graver than what we had initially thought. Initially our team of doctors diagnosed the tumors on her back as a certain type of hemangioma (which is just a benign tumor). However, after receiving a pathology report for removal of a tumor, there were words thrown around in the report like "spindle cell tumor" and "neurofibromatosis"- scary sounding words for sure. At this point our agency gave us the opportunity to back out and say no, but we very assuredly declined. We knew that this was our girl, regardless of what challenges were to come with her medical needs. We wondered if this was the Lord's way of shielding us from these results initially, because maybe we would not have accepted the referral with such a bleak diagnosis, and then would have missed out on the one who He has set out for us to parent. This course made us all the more eager and ready to bring our baby girl home. The holidays were a whirlwind leading up to Christmas and preparing for our upcoming trip. We got notice on Christmas Eve of a possible January 6th travel date- earlier than we had expected! We were thrilled. After quite a few close calls with all the necessary paperwork, we were finally off on the morning of January 6th. Not even the snow that fell that morning could stop us (even though we had to find a new flight as ours was canceled!).

Our time overseas was nothing short of amazing. Elizabeth latched onto the both of us equally, and very quickly too. Her laid back, easy go lucky personality came out right away, and the trip that others had told us to not think of as a vacation, had really became just that! How wonderful it was to spend 16 days with our little girl, in her own country, getting to know her and soaking up every precious moment. We all stayed perfectly healthy; she slept through the night immediately; she was even happy the entire 14 hour plane ride home. Wow! It was almost to good to be true, this little girl handled it all so impressively!!

Upon returning home, she adjusted very seamlessly to life at our house with two crazy little boys and all of their rowdiness! It feels as though  we have had her for a lifetime, even though it has only been one short month since she was first placed in our arms. Her medical needs are still unknown, but we are awaiting an appointment at the neurofibromatosis clinic here in Indianapolis. We are mindful that, whatever her diagnosis may be, she is in our arms now, and that's all that matters.

Our daughters name is Elizabeth Grace: Elizabeth after my middle name, as she has always been my desire. Grace after God's grace, for giving her to us, and the grace he extends to us each and every day. We would like to thank A Child Waits for helping us bring our precious Elizabeth home. We truly do not know what we would have done without your generous donation to our family.