January 31, 2005

Two years ago today we got our long-awaited phone call - I was sick - flat in bed with the stomach flu and our social worker called and said - "We have your referral - you can come in tomorrow to see her." That was quite a day - I mean really, how do you sleep at all when you know that you will see your daughter in less than 24 hours?!?! We knew her Chinese Name - Jiang Liang and that she was in Pingjiang, Hunan China and that she was born on June 21, 2004. That is all we knew at that moment but we also knew we loved that little girl and she was ours!! Somehow we at least closed our eyes that night and first thing in the morning Joe met the boys and I at our Bethany office to see our Chloe's face. When our social worker pulled out those pictures I remember just staring - she was beautiful and it was so odd - we had never seen her before but we instantly bonded with that face.

Our social worker told us we had 24 hours to

decide if we wanted to keep that referral or say no - we hadn't even gotten out of the building and Caleb said, "We are going to say Yes, aren't we?!?" There was no doubt!!! We came home and made a million copies of her three pictures and off we went to show the world.

This is the email we sent to all of our family and friends:

We found out at exactly 10:30 this morning who our new daughter
would be!!!! We are attaching a picture (we have a few more in case
anyone wants to be bored to tears with our photo album!!!!) and I have some
info. Her name is Jiang Liang. Jiang is the city where her orphanage
is located and Liang is the name her caregivers gave her meaning “Best
Wishes”. We know her first name will be Chloe but we are unsure at this
point of her middle name and then we will use Liang in her name as
well.

She is in Pingjiang in the Hunan Province. She was
abandoned at the doorstep of the orphanage on June 28, 04 and the orphanage
doctor guessed her to be about a week old at that time – so they say her
birthday is June 21, 2004. We were told that we got one of the youngest
babies they have ever seen out of China – usually they are closer to a year
old. She was about 7 lbs. at birth so we are thrilled to have such a
healthy little one!! We took all of her medical papers to our family
doctor today and he was extremely pleased. He said there was nothing that
would even hint at a problem and for that we are very grateful!! We got a
lot of fun information on her – she loves music and being outdoors and sucks her
thumb to get to sleep. They said she is very happy and rarely
cries!!! (We’ll take that!!) They also said that she is such a
wonderful baby that her caregiver is very attached. That will be
hard! We did some searching on the internet and there is a site for this
orphanage and it said that this is one of the few orphanages where there is
a nanny for each baby. Wow – what a blessing – we have been praying from day
one that she would be held often and taken good care of – God is so
good!!

So, she is about 7 months now and this picture was probably
taken when she was 3-4 months old. They bundle them in many layers in
China and we have seen many babies with hair sticking straight up – so it
must be the style for little ones!!! Caleb has said we need to make sure and
take along gel to make that hair lay down, but Mom thinks we just need a bow
or two!!!

Anyway, just wanted to share our news – we are thrilled
and what is most amazing is to see how God has worked through all of our
prayers!!! We are told to expect to travel in late March so we shall see!!! It
is hard now that we’ve seen her – we just want to go get her!! Keep praying
for us in that – we are anxious to leave our boys for two weeks, but we know
that it is only short term and it is to go get another to add to our
family!! The boys are so excited – each one has something fun they want to
teach her!!! I think she will not be lacking for attention!!

Thanks again for all of your prayers-

Joe and Becky Micah, Caleb and Aaron and now Chloe!!!