Beauty Will Rise

A woman in China is pregnant. She is scared and does not know what to do. For nine months she watches her stomach grow and grow. The day finally arrives for her to give birth to the baby that has been growing in her belly for the past nine months. The woman did the only thing she knew to do. The thing that was best for her child. She left her.
On a busy bridge in Chongqing a little girl was left. She was wrapped in a sleeping bag and placed in an open bamboo bookbag. Within a few hours the baby was found. She was taken to a police station and put in the Xiushan Social Welfare Institute. She would spend the next nine months there....

On July 1, 2007 this little girl along with many other babies boarded a train to come all the way across Chongqing. After a long {12 hour} train ride this little girl would be carried off the train, into the civil affairs office and placed in the arms of her Family. The family that God had planned for her all along. The family that was taking this little girl to be their daughter was the plan before any of us were created. God knew that this would be her story. God knew that her birth mother was just the beginning. God knew that the family that walked out of that building with little Lai Lai was the family that God had intended for her from before she was conceived. The family that was praying and waiting for her before she was even born. The family who loved her more than the world and could not wait to spend the rest of their lives with this little girl. That Family was us. We were so very blessed with Anna Grace and cannot praise God enough for her.

This little girl had an amazing beginning. A beginning many people will never, ever be able to relate to. A beginning that is tearful, hard, ugly, bad, precious, important, and through it all beautiful. This little girls story would inspire many others to add a child to their family. This little girl would come all the way to America to live and be loved. This little girl is my beautiful sister.  This little girl will have a long road ahead of her. But from the ashes and things from the past I am certain that through it all Beauty will Rise.