7,477 miles

From Huntingdon, Tn to Nanyang, Henan is 7,477 miles, but who is counting? :) What a distance love can reach!! At children's choir yesterday we took turns telling what was the most awesome thing about God. My answer was that God is so big! He is with each of us. I have to keep thinking that way during this process. Little Joy Jiao has His arms wrapped around her. What an honor to be able to teach her about that special Love someday. Our agency said three months from Aug 21, when we locked her in, they would ask for an update on Joy Jiao. It could be pictures and a video, or just pictures. They will also include her updated weight, etc. I cannot imagine that email popping up! The day the email popped up with the subject of "Dang Jiao Jiao" that included her file we requested, I almost fainted. It was unreal and it was equal to the moment my children were born. I saw double for a moment and couldn't catch my breath! The surname in China is always listed first. She doesn't have a middle name. Her first  name is "Jiao Jiao".  We will call her by both names ( Joy Jiao) because it will ease the transition AND because Jiao is who she is! She is five years old. Many people have made little remarks about calling her "J.J." or such other nicknames. Please respect Joy Jiao and her family by calling her by both. :) Her birth mother chose her name with love. Her name "Jiao" means pretty, gentle, teacher. If you need to learn how to pronounce it, just ask. You have about 8 months to practice :). I have caught myself many times talking about her and only referring to her as "Joy" because honestly my heart hurts when I hear someone say anything negative about her name. It breaks my heart. We are creating her care package now complete with pictures of her parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, first cousins, grandparents, home, her room, her preschool, etc. CCAI sent us the labels to print out to put on the pictures so the nannies can show her who each person is in her family. We will also stick a stuffed animal in the box that Anna Claire chose to give her. The kids have made her some art work as well. We heard of other families sending a disposable camera labeled with her name in Mandarin. The nannies can take random pics of her from now to "Gotcha Day" so that we will have some additional pictures. We hope for our update they include a video of her looking at her photo album! That would be aaammmmaaazzziiinnnggg! I have watched a couple videos where this has happened before. They also sent us the address in Mandarin to her orphanage so it will get there quicker than if we would have written in English.  I pray that she is excited to see and hear she has a family. We will look really strange to her! :). For  anyone that knows Justin's laugh.... I told him he isn't allowed to laugh for at least six months after she is home. It would scare that sweet child to death!!!! Thank you for the sweet friends that have offered to help us in any way possible. It means the world to hear that arms are open. Just pray for justin, me and the kids...all four of them!  It wouldn't hurt to pray for some size 6 hand me downs! ;) Below is my "lullaby" of choice for my little sweetheart. I have sung it to the kids before and never realized it was based on adoption. :( enjoy!  JJ Heller is one of my favorites!! 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vTzBWdLJG98