My Sweet Mei Li

My Daughter Mei Li turned 8 last weekend.  She is a precious, joyful child.  It’s hard to imagine her life if she weren’t in our family.  She is grateful…you see it in her smile.  We are grateful…you can see it in ours. 

She loves Raven + Lily. Loves hearing the stories of the women and spending time with our team. She loves helping in the studio.  She often makes crafts at home and wants to sell them for R+L.  Precious.  

Mei Li understands that there are many orphans in the world…many children in need. She has a tender heart for others, and she has a deep gratitude that she has a family who adores her.  Sometimes the love overwhelms her and thinks maybe we’ll “change our mind” if she’s “bad.”  When I tell her we love her no matter what and we’ll never leave her, she hugs me tightly and cries.   It makes me want to cry too.

Mei Li wanted a family birthday this year…a surprise family day. So that’s just what we did!

Surprise #1: Ice Skating on top of WholeFoods headquarters in Austin! Even I skated!

Surprise #2: Manicure with Mommy!  She picked turquoise.  Her favorite color.

Surprise #3: Happy Feet 2, IMAX 3D

Surprise #4: Special Dinner at Uchiko (since she’s such a foodie!)

Here’s to a beautiful year 8, sweet Mei Li (meaning beautiful plum blossom in Mandarin). You bring beauty into our lives.  I am so thankful to be your forever mommy.

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The War Against Girls

Last month, the Wall Street Journal published this article:

The War Against Girls 

I encourage you to read this article if you aren’t familiar with the issue of gender biased abortion, affecting millions of girls in countries like India and China. One of the reasons our family adopted a precious orphan girl from China was because so many babies are abandoned just for being a girl.  She is my Mei Li (meaning, “Beautiful Plum Blossom”). Though her biological mother couldn’t keep her because of the one child policy and preference for a boy, she was still given life and I am so thankful for that.   I pray for all the pregnant mothers in places like China and India feeling pressure to abort (or abandon) their baby girls.  My heart is heavy for them and for all those lost beauties.  Yet I rejoice that we can send a different message about the value of a girl through our efforts at Raven + Lily (especially in our India partnership). And I rejoice that Mei Li will grow up knowing that she is beautiful, unique, and wonderfully created as an amazing girl.  There was no mistake in that.


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