The Call

On Friday, November 5, 2004 word leaked out from China that referrals were on their way, we were optimistic that Monday or Tuesday may indeed by our day. What a roller coaster of emotions had gone on the last few days. Our beloved brother in law, Thomas Jameson went to be with Jesus on November 4, 2004. On Saturday Nov. 6th, family from Michigan and Washington were flying in to help support Jill and the kids and to attend Tom’s funeral on Tuesday, November 9th.



It was Monday morning and my niece Kris, along with Nick, Amy, Celia, Bethany, Katie and Sam were at our house enjoying each other’s company. This was the day of Tom’s viewing and we had decided it would be good for the kids to just be together. If the NFL had seen me tackle the ringing phone all morning, I might have made the team. The first few calls of the morning were just various people checking in. One of the calls was by my “special” brother speaking his best Chinese and telling me he had “lots of babies” for me to come and pick up. Ahhhhhh what a nut! When the phone FINALLY rang, and I didn’t recognize the number or area code, I knew this could be it! At 9:42 a.m. Kimberly, from America World, said those magic words: Congratulations you have a beautiful daughter! I grabbed the piece of paper I’d strategically laid by both phones and tried my best to start writing. “Yong Ya Ping”…… Overwhelming joy has the capacity to render you temporarily unintelligent. After dictating her name to me letter by letter, I had to ask for her to just give me a minute. Those around me found humor in my high, gasping attempts to regain composure. I began gathering all the information I could.


Who better to have at my side to capture this Kodak moment than Kristine Knox…….niece extraordinaire not to mention website designer! I did lots of jumping, screaming, and hugging with the kids. Boy, did we need some good news right at that time. I was so happy to be surrounded by these kids at such a precious time.


I made the call to Mark. He was in the middle of writing a math problem on the board. His students were thrilled with the news that their teacher had a new daughter (and would be on the phone awhile so they could get out of doing math!) What joy it was to finally tell Mark that Linsey was on her way.


The next call was to Mom and Dad. Mom cried tears of joy (we’d been doing a lot of crying tears of sadness lately) at the news that she had a new granddaughter. The ironic thing was telling her that our daughter’s name was Ping. My crazy brother Steve had been calling our baby Ping (and her sister Pong) for many months. We laughed and we cried and then remembered we were sad. Today was Tom’s viewing, tomorrow his funeral. Who can figure out God’s timing?


I called Mark’s mom next. She was overjoyed! I told her all I knew about Linsey. We both truly believed that this was the child that the Lord had chosen for us. She asked about Jill and the kids. We talked about how Linsey would bring all of us such joy at such a sad time.


A few hours later there was an email from America World. I clicked to open and BOOM! There was our baby!! There was no attachment, no warning, just LINSEY!! Tears started streaming down my face. She is, after all, the most beautiful baby in the world. She’s our stunning daughter, Yong Ya Ping soon to be Linsey YaMei Gividen. China has entrusted us with an angel! I ran down the hall yelling, “I accidentally looked!!” Of course my sister in-law Lisa and Kris got a big kick out of that saying! My brother Mark was here too so they all came running to see our beautiful new baby. Lisa decided she has her ears. I noticed that the stripe on her sleeper matches the raspberry stripe in the nursery! She has her daddy’s face and even styles her hair like him. She may not have our eyes but she has our heart!






Here is what we know about our precious daughter from the orphanage director's report:


· Birthday: June 21, 2003


· Resides in an orphanage in Hunan province under the direction of the Yongzhou Social Welfare Institute


· On 9/15/04 she weighed 19.2 pounds and measured 31 inches long


· Health Status is normal with no known health problems


· She wakes up at 6:30 a.m. and goes to sleep between 7:00 and 9 p.m. She usually takes a late afternoon nap.


Physical and Motor Skills:


· Walks alone steadily


· Turns pages of a book


· Takes blocks in and out of cups


· 8 upper teeth 7 lower teeth


· Potty trained!


· Knows 2 kinds of colors


Adaptability to the Environment:


· Deep Sleeper


· Rings a bell consciously


· Looks for dropped toys


· Goes up and down stairs while holding rail


Speech and Sociality:


· Imitates Words


· Responds to others asking for things


· Knows what “no” means


Personality:


· Fond of listening to music


· Fond of playing with toys


· Fond of singing


· Fond of Imitating


· Active


· Restless


· Has a ready smile


· Gets along with others well


· Fairly extroverted


· Quick in reaction


· Energetic


· Closest to caretaker


WE ARE OVER THE MOON!



We should get some estimated travel dates by the end of the week. Right now it’s looking like the first week in January. We’ll keep you posted so check back with us!


Love,


Elizabeth