Tuesday, October 18, 2011

And So We Wait

Dearest Desi,

We write this to you as our family encounters some distress in the adoption. For some reason, the travel approval just won't come. It is hard on our mom which makes it hard on all of us. But we want you to know, we are so ready for you to be home. Even in this time when we don't understand the delays, we know that the Lord is looking at the entire puzzle of you coming home, while we are looking at a small piece of that puzzle.

That is a life lesson that we, as your sisters, want you to know. Sometimes things happen and we just don't understand. And it makes our hearts hurt. You should be aware, you are entering a family full of emotion. We have a tendency to cry. We've learned that it's okay to cry though. The lesson is that no matter if we understand the situation or not it is our one calling to know that the Lord is in control and that His plans are so much greater than ours. This is such a hard time while we wait for you. Yet it is a growing time. As you grow bigger physically, you grow that much bigger in our hearts each day. It makes us sad to think that you sit in an orphanage alone thousands of miles away, yet you must know you are constantly in our thoughts and on our hearts. There are so many people praying for you and your homecoming. We love you-to the moon and back. We loved you before we ever saw your face. The part that gives us joy is to feel this love for you and to know that the Lord's love for each of us is even greater than this. It is a comfort to know while we aren't there to care for you, He is daily comforting you. He is daily pouring His love on you. It is such a blessing to all be daughters not only of Stephen and Mary Malone of 10200 Salina Springs, but of the King of Kings.

Bringing up the prayers that go to you each and every day, you must know about your sister Jenna and her mighty prayers. Each and every night before she goes to sleep she prays with one of us. In the past year not a night that any of can recollect has she not prayed for her little sister Desi, in an orphanage thousands of miles away. She prays that you sleep well even though you aren't home yet. She prays that you are doing okay. And she is confident that He hears those prayers.

So we wait. We wait for travel approval so that you can be with your forever family.
We wait for the day when we can hold you in our arms.
Always know that you are already in our hearts.

With all of our love,

Devan, Jordan, and Jenna

Your sister Jordan-the master of the clarinet! We got to go to her football game this past weekend and cheer her on!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Letters for Desi

This morning as I was helping my mom pack Desi's clothes in the suitcase (it will be repacked another 100 times, no worries) I realized it is very hard to keep friends and family updated on the status of our newest little sister, Desi. So I thought...maybe I should give blogging another chance. My attempt in May was quite a failure. Over the course of the day I've let my imagination run wild and decided Jordan, Jenna, and I are going to have this blog for Desi. It will allow everyone to stay updated on her and allow us to tell her about our lives right now and how excited we are for her to come home and for our family to be complete.

So Desi, this is for you. We love you. And we want you to be home.

Dearest Desi,

You are 3 years old right now and in an orphanage in China. I sit at your almost home in the always exciting Benton, Arkansas while our mom picks up your other two sisters, Jordan and Jenna. I first want you to know about each of us...you deserve to know what you are getting yourself into :)

Devan. Oldest Sister. 21 years old in 29 days. A Ouachitonian. Studying Mass Communications and Speech Communications. A little indecisive. Often called Little Dev, Dev, or as Pawpaw always has, Sugarfoot. Problem solver. Part of the wonderful Women of Tri Chi. The best nerd you'll ever see. Talkative. Always talkative. Loves traveling. Sings like a ghost. Diva.

Jordan. Second oldest sister. 15 years old. Learning to drive. Member of the Benton High School band. Plays the clarinet. Loves country music. And horses. Continues to beg our parents for a horse. Passionate about life. Often called JP or Jordy. Fierce. An excellent cook. Contagious laughter. Animal print is her style. Risk taker. Loves the outdoors. Tans too easily. Diva.

Jenna. Third oldest sister. 7 years old...but almost 8. Adopted from China just like you. Prayer warrior. Too smart for her own good. And ours. Excellent gymnast. Knows no strangers. Honorary member of Tri Chi. Compassionate. Often called Jen or JBCM. Would eat ramen noodles for every meal. Recently took the training wheels off her bike. Loves to write notes for people. Diva.

Right now we are waiting on travel approval so that you can come home. It will hopefully come next week and once we have the approval, then we get travel dates, then we send our mom to China and you come home! The goal right now is that you be home for Thanksgiving. We really hope you are home by then so that you can help us decorate the Christmas tree. It's one of our favorite things to do each year-and you can always count on controversy ove the perfect placement of each ornament.

Now here are some thoughts from Jenna:
Desi, I think you should know about our mom and dad too. They are sometimes grumpy but they always are supportive. I love them and you should love them too. They are really awesome and you should think that too. You need to be prepared for dad because sometimes he talks to the dogs...by the way you need to know about our two dogs Jack and Wilson!

When you are in second grade and if you get Mrs. Dale she is going to be awesome! She is really fun and jokeable.

Jordan doesn't have any thoughts right now because she is getting ready for a community pep rally that she is playing in. But here is a picture we snapped today while we were all together for a minute!



See you soon,
Devan, Jordan, and Jenna :)