Our Little Diamond in the Rough

When we first saw "Sissy" on our agency's waiting children's list over eight months ago, Daniel said "Well, she's going to get snatched up fast!" to which I responded, "Yeah, I know. That's going to be one lucky family..."

I can just imagine God chuckling knowing WE would be that lucky family.

As time unfolded and we began to witness God's ultimate plan come to light, we started to refer to "Sissy"/Mina as "our little diamond in the rough".

There was something about her, something we couldn't explain...
She, honestly, seemed too good to be true.

Mina's file was on the "Special Focus" list.
This classification is often considered the bottom rung of children waiting for a family.
These are the children that have gone 60 days or more without any agency locking in the child's file.
Generally it's because the child has multiple special needs or a more severe special need.

The crazy thing is that almost all baby girls (less than 24 months old), regardless of their special need, are adopted quickly because most families seem to have this "I want a baby girl from China" mentality. (Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing...just saying...) At the time we saw Mina's file, she was only 10 1/2 months old. This is basically newborn status in the international adoption world.

Mina had two "special needs" listed on her file.
One scary word and another special need that I had never seen or heard a child having.
It didn't matter to us, and her special needs were things we felt our family was very suited to handle -- especially with Daniel's easy access to radiologic imaging.

The most recent medical information we had on Mina was when she was 7 months old, and we never received a single medical update while we waited to bring her home at 18 months old. In other words her file was almost an entire year old with no new information on her health status.

As the time drew near for us to travel, I mentioned to Daniel that we should guard our hearts for what might be awaiting us in China -- medically speaking. I had recently heard from several adoptive families that their child's special needs were far greater than what they were led to believe. With us not having ANY medical updates, I was wondering just how bad things might be. Not that anything would have changed my heart for our daughter, but I was getting anxious about the thought of trying to get her in to see certain specialists and managing all the necessary appointments once we were back home (and then again when we move to Cleveland for a year in June). What was daily life going to look like if she had additional special needs that we were not anticipating?

This is one of the many moments in the process of adoption where you take that leap of faith trusting that God is in complete control and that He has a plan.

The moment Mina was placed in my arms, I had this overwhelming peace flood my heart.
This little one was our daughter.
A wave of indescribable love washed over me.
She was wailing/kicking/dirty/boogery -- come to think of it, that's exactly how I would describe the first time Aubrey was placed in my arms! The only thing missing with Mina was the cutting of the umbilical cord.

The first week we were home, Daniel said, "So, do you wanna bring Mina into the hospital today?"
"Why?" I asked a bit confused.
"Uh, to see what's going on inside her body...?"
"Oh yeah!" I had totally forgotten this child had a medical condition to evaluate!

As we walked into the hospital I told Mina, "It doesn't matter what happens or what we find or anything...we love you, and nothing will ever change that!" She didn't understand a word I said, but I felt the need to say it anyway.

Well, do you know what we found?
An absolutely, 100% perfectly normal baby girl.
The special need that was listed on her file was nowhere to be found.

We went to the pediatrician that same week.
Do you know what we found?
A 21 pound (26th percentile), 31 inch (20th percentile), 47 cm head circumferenced (66th percentile) absolutely, 100% perfectly normal baby girl.

We scheduled blood work to check other things and to see if there were any hidden illnesses.
I bet you can guess what we found...
Yep, an absolutely, 100% perfectly normal baby girl.

She will need some additional vaccines now that she's living in the US, but nothing major.

When we started this journey, we felt called to adopt a "special needs" child.
Remember, I even wrote a whole post all about our "special" calling?!
Little Daisy was the face of our adoption until we met our Mina.
We filled out the medical checklist and listed over 70 moderate to severe special needs we felt God had given us a peace about.
We read tons of books.
Watched countless online seminars.
Talked with multiple special needs adoptive parents.
After everything, here we are with our little Mina bug who has no true "special" need other than needing to be in our family!
What an unexpected blessing
Thank you, Lord, for our daughter.

Our treasure.

Our diamond in the rough.