HARVEST — Sept. 24, 2004, in Yongxiu County, Jiangxi Province, China was for one young woman a day of agonizing decision about what to do with a newborn child she could not keep. Even though it is a largely neglected province, Jiangxi has enjoyed a distinguished place in China’s history. Though China itself is a young country, having been founded in 1949, its varied civilizations are thousands of years old. Jiangxi is often hailed as “The Cradle of Red China.” It was here, in the Jinggang Mountains, that Chairman Mao (Mao Zedong) began developing his philosophy of government and leadership.

Jiangxi life is demanding, full of tough choices. Many of its citizens live in unimaginable poverty. Rural communities are dotted with shacks without electricity, plumbing, or even doors in many cases. Yet for all of this, the people of this region are hospitable and friendly.

It is from this region that God birthed a miracle for our family. We are the Greens: Jerry, Connie and Austin and the miracle that God performed in our lives is the addition of Lily Grace, through the miracle of adoption.

In the 1970s, as its population began exploding, the Chinese government implemented a policy that would essentially limit Chinese families to a single child. It only takes a single visit to a city such as Beijing, Nanchang, or Guangzhou to realize that a government providing services for nearly 1.4 billion people is faced with some harsh challenges. The one-child policy is an attempt to control population growth, but it results in Chinese families being forced into decisions of what to do with additional or unwanted children. Such was the case on Sept. 24, 2004, when a mother or another relative placed a newborn baby girl at the entrance to the Yongxiu County Social Welfare Institute.

Her new caregivers named her Jiang Yong Xing after her province and orphanage. Xing is her only given name and it means apricot. The director and the nannies at the welfare institute had hearts for China’s lost children and a desire to provide for them the best they could.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2005. After prayer and discussions with our pastor at Isom’s Chapel United Methodist Church, we decided to adopt and focused on China. We knew that the one-child policy resulted in many Chinese girls being abandoned, since most families wanted to have boys to help with the work and to carry on the family name. It was through a series of small miracles that we came to know of Jiang Yong Xing. We immediately fell in love with her and began making plans to bring her home. She was the perfect fit for our family. God removed obstacles at every turn to bring our little miracle home fully a year earlier than most internationally adopted children.

It was the day before Thanksgiving last year that we entered into an agreement with Lifeline Children’s Services in Birmingham as our adoption agency. We had been introduced to Lifeline at an adoption fair at Highland Baptist Church in Florence. By the spring of 2006, all paperwork had been completed and sent to China. And on July 17, we left Huntsville for Beijing, not quite eight months from our first meeting with Lifeline. It was the trip of a lifetime for our son, Austin, as we toured Beijing, Nanchang, Guangzhou, the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, the Forbidden City, and Tianan’men Square. Even the new grandmothers got in on the trip. We spent 17 days in China, many of them in Jiangxi Province, quite possibly the only Americans in the province during that time. And through it all, God continued to prepare us for a miracle that we couldn’t anticipate.

On July 23, in Nanchang, China, the Jiangxi provincial capital city, God placed into our hands little Jiang Yong Xing—Lily Grace Xing to us. So many of the Chinese citizens in Nanchang would come up to us and say “lucky baby.” But we know in our hearts that luck had nothing to do with it. It was all about God creating another of His miracles. We have been blessed beyond anything we have ever deserved. We arrived back home with Lily Grace Xing on August 2 at Huntsville and were welcomed by an airport full of our friends and family.

It was amazing to see the transformation in Lily Grace as she became a full-fledged member of our family. She is the sweetest little girl you could imagine, offering kisses and hugs to her mommy, daddy, and big brother. She loves watching big brother at East Limestone football games. She imitates everything we do, and laughs out loud often. She’s beginning to learn English and even knows how to say “Roll Tide!” Her favorite word is “beautiful,” though “Austin” is a close second. She still says a few things in Chinese and can make a connection between simple words in Chinese and English.

Many have asked us how we came to adopt a child from China, especially when there are so many children right here in the U.S. desperately in need of a loving family. Our only response is that we were following God’s plan and His plan for us was to reach out to this little girl from China.

We have joined an awesome group of families here in Limestone County that has experienced similar miracles. The Athens Families with Children from China—Athens FCC—is a growing group of Christians who have accepted God’s call for adoption. We have 21 families, some of whom have adopted local children, as well as Chinese children. We also have friends in Huntsville, Florence, Decatur, Russellville, and Montgomery who have adopted children from China, some from the same province and even the same orphanage. When one considers the complexity of international adoption, it is evident that only God could arrange this miracle.

We have kept a Web log (blog) for Lily Grace so we will be able to share with her the many small miracles that knitted the circumstances of her becoming a member of our family. We have shared this journal with all who have prayed for us and supported us through this past year. It would be impossible for us to describe in words how much the prayers and gifts of our friends and family and brothers and sisters in Christ have meant to us.