no ordinary day

i had my cell phone on. and i had my on cell phone on me. but i never heard it ringing. i come back from lunch and everyone at work is asking me if the wife had found me. she had actually come to the office looking for me. i checked my phone. 3 or 4 missed calls and a couple voice mails. i start to play the messages (i had a pretty good idea what this was about but still wondered if the boy's leg had fallen off or something). first message, amy keeps repeating, where are you where are you where are you where are you? i haven't ruled out the leg thing. next message, bemused, she says, who leaves for lunch but doesn't turn on their phone!!?? i could tell from her voice, this was a good excitement, not a scared or angry one.

i check my email.

and you can guess what (who) i found. i didn't know how to feel. it's like seeing the first sonogram and the entire first 6 months of your child's life in the same instant. i finally did get ahold of the wife. she has to get to work. i have to get to work. but my mind is elsewhere. i call the agency and have them fax me at work the referral papers. they are translating them in CO and will send them in the next couple days but we have friends on the inside. we can get our hands on the translation sooner then that. the paperwork comes quickly but, it's all in chinese! all i can make out is her name (the mei character in her name is the same one used for "america") and the stats on her height, weight, etc. it's in cm and kg so i have to wait till saturday to convert it over to stuff i understand.

if i'm reading this right Joy was placed in foster care in early november and was 19 inches, 6.6lbs. the medical work up is from march. she was 25.7 inches and 17.3lbs then. i'm guessing on when the picture was taken - maybe at 6 months old? that'd be april? i think when the actual photo comes there will be a date on the back. i think. there are other interesting stats on the work up:

according to my stelar translating powers her routine schedule consists of eating, napping, pooping, and peeing at specific times throughout the day. but i have no clue when she's doing what or if she's very talented and does some at the same time. will have to wait on the 'real' translation for that one.

in march she was a deep sleeper, held her head up while on her tummy, locates sounds and follows with her eyes, laughs aloud, distinguishes between strangers and acquaintances, knows her name, imitates sounds, fond of music, active, quick in reaction, fond of playing games, has a ready smile, is restless and is closest to her caretaker.

there were also many things she wasn't (at least not enough to merit a check mark on the sheet anyway): quiet, puts a cap on a bottle, fond of picture books, impatient sometimes, or expressed her refusal in a simple way.

her favorite activity is - it's in chinese but from the writing i'm guessing maybe underwater acrobatics, ballet, or rugby. and her favorite toy is - again from the chinese - what appears to be 3 bears escaping the circus with a clown they have bound and gagged.

she's from hunan province. we will have to travel to the capital of hunan province to adopt Joy. somewhere back in january or february i was placing thumb tacks into a map of the world we keep in the basement. i use it as a sort of prayer guide. for example the friends i made on my trip to london last summer have a tack. so do the compassion and world vision kids we sponsor. when i see a thumb tack i pray for the people. so i was placing thumb tacks into this map back in january or february and i paused at china. where is baby joy from? i said, out loud, right here, and placed a tack in the city of changsha - the capital of hunan province. we have to wait for the rest of the translation. she may not actually be from changsha but we're going to be there together in just a couple months.

that was just the day by 1pm. it gets better. we've been praying for some friends of ours, off and on, for the last several months. his mom has alzhymers and has been in a home for the last year. she doesn't speak. can't feed herself. doesn't recognize anyone. until yesterday. it had been an intense week for them. they had made special trips to pray with her by her bedside. yesterday the nursing home called his father - you have to get down here now. she had some sort of seizure and fell on the floor. when she got up, she could speak again. her husband spoon fed her breakfast, like he had done everyday for the past year, but for lunch he took her out to sonic!! my friend spoke with his mother on the phone for the first time in over a year yesterday.

now this part is just me being self centered but ever since we settled on the name Joy i've stuck to the verse - the joy of the Lord is my strength. i've often thought of our daughter as, the Joy of the Lord. that same verse was what kept our friends going, particularly yesterday morning. now there's plenty of joy going around.

but wait, there's more. baby colleen made it home, to hays, yesterday, too. i'll post pictures of our first time getting to meet and to hold this little jewel soon.

i still don't quite know how to feel about finally having a face to go with the name. it's different. odd. it feels good. really good. let's call it joy.