Friday, June 20, 2008

Leila's Story Part I

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6

In a few days, I plan on posting Leila's adoption story. (There is a reason behind my timing.) Until then, I wanted to share Part I of her story. When Nolan and I first decided to adopt, we were looking for a child "as young as possible." As it turns out, we saw a video of a two-year old girl who looked like me when I was her age. In addition to looking like me, she had bruises all over her arm. She bruised easily, just like me, too! Let me be clear: It totally did not matter to either of us if our child looked like us. Yet, even though we thought we were looking for something else, it felt like a very clear sign from God that she was our child.

So that is the VERY condensed version of how Leila became our daughter. Fast forward to now, Leila is six (getting ready to turn 7, Yikes!) and I cannot tell you how many times over the past four years that she has made a face or has done something that makes me think that I have seen that look before. On ME. As a reflection in the mirror, or in a picture of me, when I was a kid myself. Here... I'm going to let you be the judge. What do you think? Is it just me?

Either way, I praise God he chose Leila for us!

This is me on the left - on my last day of KG, compared to Leila on her last day of KG. I was just a bit behind on losing my teeth. :-)Mommy and Leila Last Day of KG

9 comments:

missy said...

Yes Michelle, I think there is no denying it, Miss Leila was meant to be your daughter. God knew what he was doing!

It is startling just how much you two resemble in those photographs. Two beautiful girls!

Jill said...

I found your blog through another blogger....very cute blog.

Yes, you and Leila look very much a like. God definitely had a plan for your family. Someone told me once "There are no coincidences when you're a Christian." I love that! Leila was meant to be your daughter.

mommy24treasures said...

oh I look forward to hearing Leila's story! She is such a beautiful girl. How exciting that you felt similarities and this is what drew your heart to her. I love hearing the way God speaks to each of us in a way that will reach us.

Anonymous said...

Yes, my friend she looks so much like you it is amazing!!! Then again God amazes me daily.

Looking forward to reading Leila's story.

Have a great Saturday!

LaLa said...

Wow...that is amazing. At least she now knows what a beautiful woman she will grow up to be : ) Of course we already knew that.

Luckily for Annslee she looks nothing like me LOL

Leslie said...

WoW Michelle, that is so neat. She is such a beautiful little girl, just like her momma was, and still is. I can't wait to read her story, and see God's amazing work with your family. We have amazing adoption story's as well. I'll have to post ours one day. We are the lucky ones.

Annette said...

Oh Michelle, you know I can't wait to hear Leila's story. I have such a soft spot for those Russian beauties you know! Yes,she looks so like you. I have to tell you, we had many heartaches during our adoption journey to Russia, I almost felt that it was never going to work out. We too 'wanted' as young as possible and then the day before we were leaving Russia 'empty handed', we were handed a photo and I almost fell over. She looked exactly like my dad's baby picture! I knew that very minute that my dad sent her to us and that she was our daughter. To this day, complete strangers will come up to me and say how much she looks like me.
Sorry this is so long!

Ohilda said...

Michelle,

Wow! Pretty amazing, huh? As Jill said, there are no coincidences. She was definitely created to be your daughter.

Looking forward to hearing her story.

Blessings,

Ohilda

Amie said...

OMGoodess.. that is crazy how much the two of you look alike. WOW!

I am not going to read the part two story tonight.. I am in one of those moods thanks to my hormones,ahem, where I am crying at the silliest things. Cheerios comercials, Ben GAY advertisements. and that little Franklin is such a good big brother to little Harriet, just chokes me up. So I am going to have to come back tomorrow when I think I might have a better chance of making it through the post without drowning myself in my tears...cause I know this is going to be a tear jerker!

:)
Amie