Family – a group of individuals that share a common ancestry. When I posted in September that Salem has found her family, I had thought that to mean “our house.” Since then, “Salem has found her family” has taken on a whole new meaning. Salem has found her family, but it consists of a large group of people who share a common ancestry. She will be joining our extended family through a couple who has felt the call of adoption and is following that call. Salem’s name will be Elliana Kate Qiao Gross and she will be the younger sister of Anna Mei, Parker, Jacob and Carter, and the daughter of Rodney and Marcy. Salem and Anna will be virtual twins.
This exciting news has been in the process since the weekend following our devastating news that we could not be her forever family. When I shared with the CHI staff how Salem had become such a special part of our family, as well as our extended family, they immediately asked whether anyone in our extended family were in a position and would want to pursue the adoption of this precious little girl. Some of our siblings would have stepped in and adopted, but due to the strict qualifications of the CCAA, did not qualify. This was hard for some of our siblings to deal with, because they would have done anything in their power to provide a home for this little girl who had stolen our hearts. When I shared with Marcy and Rodney the question posed by CHI and asked them to help us pray about this situation, they expressed an interest, if and only if, we would be comfortable with that. After many prayers, sleepless nights and stunned responses from affected family members, they have made the commitment to adopt Salem.
I know this will come as a shock to many. How and why does this have to happen? Are you sure you can handle the feelings that will come about by this decision? How will you deal with this each time you see her? The questions could go on and on. But the answer lies in knowing that we have made the best choice faced with the options we had. We prayed and asked God to help us find some answers to the questions we were faced with immediately. What is going to happen to this little girl we love so dearly? Will she go to a home and family where she will be loved the way we would have loved her? We could not stand the thought of her file being sent back to China. Our ultimate goal from the beginning was for her to have a family. Yes, we wanted her to be ours, but when faced with the fact that she could not be ours, we wanted the best for her. We know we have made the right decision and she will be loved more than she will even be able to comprehend.
Before posting to the blog about Salem's family receiving their PA, Marcy and I had talked and felt it may not be appropriate to share some of the details of Salem’s story on a public blog. Since then, after letting our family members know the whole story and feeling the love and support of each of them, we feel we can share it with others. We want you to know the love we feel for the children of this world who don’t have a family to call their own. If by seeing the love we have for Salem will convince just one to act on the love and conviction to help another child, that is one more child that will have a family to call their own.
We are still praying and asking God to lead us down the next path He has for us. He has placed a powerful love and strong conviction in our hearts for these children. Where will we go? We are not sure at this time, but we are open to what God desires for our lives. I am thankful I have had Him to lean on during these past several months and I am sure I will need Him for strength and wisdom on how to handle the future.
Thank you for following this blog. Salem means peace, and I am starting to feel peace in everything that has transpired in the past seven months. If you would like to, Rodney and Marcy invite you to follow their journey to bring Elli home. Their blog title is "Journey to Elli" and the address is www.journeytoelli.blogspot.com.
Please help us in sending love and prayers to "Elli" and her soon-to-be-sister. Anna Mei is having her first surgery tomorrow morning to repair her cleft lip/palate and she has an anxious mom and dad who need our prayers. Our prayers are for a quick and pain-free recovery.
