So we have an announcement...

We've been matched!!! Our beautiful new daughter, Yu Yi, is 3 years old and she lives in South China.  We locked her file and submitted our Letter of Intent today!!  We wish we could share her precious face here on our blog, but that will have to wait until we have her home in the States.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of her new family throwing a spontaneous party last night out of sheer excitement!

The two characters of her Chinese name was beautifully translated by a Chinese friend of a friend: "'Beyond, higher than others' This girl must be very smart and strong. She will be able to do things beyond others' expectation in the future.  'Happy and Joyful' The happiness and joy is from the peace, the comfort and satisfaction from the bottom of her heart."  What a beautiful blessing over our daughter's life!

It's hard to describe what it means to me to bring this wonderful news to you, or how light and happy my heart has been these last two days since we knew she was ours.  This blog space has held the darkest days of my life.  The last three years have felt like loss after loss after loss, most recently my precious Nana only one month ago.  It has been a long, dark winter.   But Spring is finally here, praise our merciful God!

There are lots of questions about what comes next.  The short answer is: more paperwork between us, the State Department, and the Chinese Government.  Then travel!  But also, the Coronavirus, so we are holding all timelines loosely.  I'll post more updates as we go along, but for today...

Elizabeth Joy Fleenor, we can't wait to meet you!!!