Davis Family Story

On February 4, 2008 at 3:16 p.m. we finally got our referral call. Our daughter, Lily Grace, (Wan Jin Mi) was born on May 17, 2007. When the referral photo was taken, she was 5 months old. She weighed 12 pounds, and she was 25 inches long. At birth, she weighed 6.8 pounds, and she was 19 inches long. Her caretaker wrote in her paperwork, "Wherever little Jin Mi goes, people adore her."

We sent 2 cameras, stuffed animals, clothes, and pictures of ourselves to Lily and her foster Nanny. The following pictures are the ones her Nanny took for us.

This is a picture of the home beside the orphanage which houses the elderly people who become foster parents to most of the children.

This is a picture of the room in the orphanage where the babies slept. We were never told if Lily slept with her foster Nanny or in the orphanage at night. But, we wondered why she would have taken a picture of this room if Lily was never in it.

This shows the back of the Wanzai Social Welfare Institute- orphanage.

The children had a playground at the orphanage. You can see the building for the elderly people in the background.

Lily was found on the day she was born with her umbilical cord still attached. We were told she also had a note, but nothing was given to us. They said she was found right outside the gate of the SWI. We imagine her being left right under the signs with Chinese writing on them. But, we really have no idea of the exact spot outside the gate.

We started our adoption on June 19, 2005 through America World Adoption Agency. We got all of our paperwork completed by November 26th. Our dossier was sent to China on December 2nd. The following picture shows you all of our paperwork laid out before Christmas of 2005.

Then, the true wait began. On January 2, 2008, we missed the CCAA's cut-off by one day! Then, finally, our call came, and we began waiting again- but this time on the package!

Lily's package arrived on Feb. 5th & another wait began! The final wait to go get Lily and bring her home!

Friends helped to keep us busy having baby showers for us during that last waiting period.

We finally left to go get Lily in March. On St. Patrick's Day, we got to meet our beautiful daughter for the first time. It took 3 days for her to completely get used to us. She was beautiful, and the foster Nanny had taken excellent care of her. She was also spoiled rotten already! Our time in China was wonderful, and we cannot wait to take Lily back someday. Now, Lily has been with us for 11 months. She was definitely chosen and made for us by God. There is no doubt that she is our daughter, and she was always meant to be with us. Even though the wait was long, once Lily was placed in our arms- the wait was forgotten. There are a few pictures of our time in China on our blog (http://oneworld--onelove.blogspot.com/), and you can also see updates of Lily's life now.

Our beautiful daughter at 20 months old.