Introducing....Liang Ruoting

“When Jesus Christ asked little children to come to him, he didn't say only rich children, or White children, or children with two-parent families, or children who didn't have a mental or physical handicap. He said, "Let all children come unto me.” ~Marian Wright Edelman

We received our phone call from our agency, FTIA, on August 15 around 9:30 am stating that they have matched us with a baby! After following countless blogs from other prospective adoptive parents, we anticipated a wait time of AT LEAST 2 years before hearing about a child. Since we started this process just last January, we were shocked and elated by the timing of the phone call. Another pleasant surprise for us was finding out her birthday was January 28 of this year! We prepared ourselves initially for a child 18 months old or older so news of a seven month old baby up for adoption was wonderful. We said "yes" and instantly became a family of five. Our girls were thrilled upon hearing that they would have a new sister! They excitedly began talking about sharing a room with each other. The plans for who gets to sleep on the top bunk (once we get them a bunk bed) were already mapped out.

Liang Ruoting was found at the waiting hall of a railway station on February 1, 2008. She was then brought to the Social Welfare Institute of Pingliang City in Gansu Province. At the time she weighed 2.9 kg and was 46 cm long. Currently, other than her visible disability, she is considered to be healthy. At eight months old, she sits and is able to stand by holding onto objects. We just can't wait to get our hands on her.

Throughout this process, Jon and I kept searching for signs from God to validate whether we we're making the right decision. His guidance was felt in many different ways but one of the more significant signs helped us solidify that were indeed about to travel down the path He chose for us. This sign came in the form of this little girl's name. From our research, we believe that the name "Liang" indicates the orphanage she comes from. We felt chills when we learned that "Looks like Grace" is the meaning of the name "Ruoting". On March 6, 2002, my niece and god daughter, Grace Josephine (Gracie Jo), died suddenly in her sleep when she was just shy of 19 months old . This connection of Gracie Jo's name to Liang Ruoting's, was too powerful for us to ignore. As tragic as that March day was, our entire family has tried to find the positives from her short sweet life. Who would have known this would take the form of two little girls? Lillian Grace and Maggie Josephine were adopted from China by my sister and brother-in-law sometime after this tragedy. They are such a blessing and a joy. We believe that while sitting on God's lap, Gracie helped hand pick each of those girls for this family. Ironically, we received our call on Lili's birthday. Coincidence? I don't think so. Just one other example of God's presence and affirmation that His plan was now our plan. We debated on including Grace in her name, but we are not sure. We, as a family, have decided to name her Julianne. Julianne Grace OR Julianne Liang OR Julianne Ruoting. We knew that the name we chose would have "Li" in it since my name is Deborah Lee and our children's names are Leah and Natalie. So when we received the call for Liang Ruoting, we knew she belonged in our family.

“I'm singing at the top of my lungs, I'm so full of answered prayers.” Psalm 13:5

Our cup is already flowing over.........we can't wait to make her a part of our lives.