"Choose me"

We received Tess's birth certificate via email today!  Another milestone on our journey!  It was so exciting to see our names as her parents.  She was assigned a birthday...January 9, 2001.  Her new given name is Tesfanesh John Jonas.  I thought it was a mistake but my case worker told me they always assign the father's names to the children.  When we re-adopt in the US we will change her middle name.  

As I prepare for our amazing trip to get our daughter I am already thinking of all the kids that will be left behind.  Then I read a heartbreaking blog of a couple who just got back with their new baby.  While at the orphanage picking up the baby, a little 8 year old boy held this mom's hand the whole time. When it was time to leave he pulled her ear down to him and whispered "choose me".

This is not an easy emotional journey nor is it light. It seems that for every emotional high God balances it with a low. I reassure myself that "It's all Yours God, every child in Africa is Yours" and that God has his hand on each one of these little souls.