Thank You!!!!!!

God Bless all of you who have contributed towards Jiliang's adoption expenses and offered prayers for her safe journey home from China. We originally started this journey on our own, and never planned to ask for help, except for a few loans along the way. The initial adoption expenses were paid by us in advance, back in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. As our journey took a different path, we came face-to-face we a little girl we now know as Jiliang -a name bearing much resemblence to my own name: Jill.

Things happened faster than we had expected, and it didn't take long for us to realize that we needed help to get her home. Switching programs was an additional $2500, and we just happened to be in the process of updating our home study and Immigration paperwork from CIS, which was another $1000. Getting Scott's POA letter, my Visa, and the Michigan Citizenship paperwork was another $550. Whew! This all happened in a month's time in November/December of 2009.

We had a fundraiser in January 2010, and raised nearly $3000, which went towards her orphanage donation. As much as we didn't like asking for help, it was a huge blessing to us and put a huge dent in our adoption expenses. Ultimately, we found out how many wonderful people were willing to help us make Jiliang's journey home a reality. Family, friends, community members and complete strangers stepped forward out of generosity and compassion for a little orphan halfway across the world.

We began the adoption process as a family seeking a healthy baby girl, although we felt a pull from the start towards a special needs child, and more of a pull towards an older child. Many waiting children had captured our hearts, but we were unable to switch to the waiting child program until recently.

I asked God for a sign that we would know our daughter when we found her, and He answered. One thing that I liked about the Non-Special Needs lists was that China picked a child for you. If you know me, you know that I can never make up my mind. It takes me 3 minutes to pick out with brand of noodles I want to buy, or anything for that matter. I liked the idea of someone making the decision for me, because it felt like fate.

Jiliang was the first official referral we were sent, but it was sent because another child that I requested (by description only) had been locked in already. Amy Coray at West Sands had sent Jiliang's file herself. As soon as we saw her, we knew that she was meant to be our daughter. Scott always joked that I would finally get my long-awaited daughter and she would be like him: an introvert. Well, guess what? She was referred to as introverted and quiet. That was my sign. Then, I looked at her name again, and remembered that Chinese names have the last name first. Therefore, her name was JiLiang. It sounds like a combination of my name and my sister Leah's name, whom I fondly call Le. I had hoped that our daughter's middle name would be Li, so I could name her after my sister. I also hoped that her province would be similar to Jiangxi, and it was Jiangsu. The real "coincidence", not that I believe in coincidences, is that we reviewed her file on November 6th. 1106 is my lucky number and has been since 1990. I grew up on 1106 Murray Drive and decided it was to be my lucky number in honor of my childhood home. I have been waiting for something special to commence on that date, but November 6th had been uneventful until 2009.

With all of these signs, I knew that Jiliang coming before us was NO coincidence. As every day passed, I urged Scott to do a fundraiser, and every time he said no. Finally, my dad offered and I accepted, telling Scott that it was going to happen whether he liked it or not. I wouldn't normally do this, but I knew that it was the ONLY way to get our little girl home to us.

Please know that I intend to Pay It Forward and help other children and adoptive families as soon as I am able. I have recently received blessings from a wonderful adoptive group called Loving China's Children. They continue to bless me in more ways than one. My first goal will be to support and bless other families who are adopting children with special needs.

Every day I am one step closer to holding my little girl. I hope to travel around February 21st, and meet her in the end of February or the first week of March. Hopefully I will have a travel date within a week or two.

Thank you all sincerely. May God Bless you all.
Jill Koeppe