An Amazing Day!

Today, we had the privilege and honor to meet Tiffany Grace's Foster Family . . . the Choo family. Words are inadequate to describe the experience. It was as if we discovered we had a whole new family that we never knew. Better yet, it felt as if our hearts always knew they were our family it just took a little longer for the universe to bring us all together. The catalyst for the expansion of our family is now a blessing times four. When we return we are bringing with us four new members of our family . . . Tiffany Grace, Clarissa Choo, Wai How Choo, and Gwyneth Choo. One will physically make the trip home and the other three will be carried closely and warmly in our hearts forever.

On the far left is Alex, next to him is Teresa, then Gwyneth, Carol and Wai How. In front of the Carol and Alex's daughters and Katrina sitting in her new Jiejie's (Mandarin for older sister) lap.

Also, we met Teresa Woo, Alex, Carol, and their two daughters. Alex and Carol are friends of the Choos and their daughters were some of Tiffany Grace's playmates. Teresa Woo is a beautiful soul who founded and runs Ping An Medical Foster Home. This is a private organization that raises funds for surgical procedures for orphans and cares for them during their treatments. Tiffany Grace spent one year with Teresa and one year with the Choos. They gave us photo albums and photo CDs of their time with Tiffany Grace. What amazing gifts to receive. It is clear from the photos and the many stories they shared with us that they love our daughter very much and they took wonderful care of her while she waiting for us . . . her forever family. In the end, that is the true gift they gave us that we will continue to receive and know for all our lives. They gave unconditional love to our daughter and taught her how to give and receive love. For this I can never stop thanking them. I can tell you with all my heart, Katrina, Joe and I truly love Wai How, Gwyneth, Clarissa and Teresa.

We learned several things from Tiffany Grace's second family all of which confirmed for me the true power of God and the power of prayer. We found so many things that seemed to fit so perfectly between our two families. The most amazing was when Wai How asked us what we were going to call He Xinyi. We said her name was always Grace because we believed it was only by the grace of God that she came to us. Then we told them that we added Tiffany when my beloved niece Tiffany passed away this February. They were instantly surprised and overcome with emotion. They said that they too sometimes called He Xinyi "Grace" because a dear friend of theirs said Xinyi was too hard to pronounce and that she should be called Grace because she was a testimony to God's grace. As you can imagine, we all knew then and their that our red thread connections had come together as only God could have planned and accomplished.

Across the world we have traveled to find love, hope, friendship, family, generosity, faith, kindness and most of all Grace.