Our Hibiscus Tree and Emily

We knew our referral was coming because of a Hibiscus tree we have in our home. I know that this sounds ridiculous, but trust me, it isn't.

On May 1st 2002, we were blessed with the birth of our son Troy. Shortly afterwards, we bought the twig of a Hibiscus tree and we watched it grow into a beautiful tree while we watched our little baby grow. At the age of 3 weeks, we found out our son had cancer and this started a 2 year battle of treatments. Unfortunately, we lost our son on Sept. 23, 2004. Troy loved that tree, especially the big red flowers it produced. We have kept it going as a living tribute to our son.

On the morning of Jan. 23, 2006, we came down for breakfast and the tree had a huge red bloom. What a nice treat! The very next morning when we came down, there was another bloom and it was right next to the first one. We knew that this was a sign from our son telling us that we were going to get some good news.

Later that morning, we got the call. Andrea told us that her name was Fan Xiao Yun. Andrea was giving us all the details as she was emailing pictures to us. After suffering the loss of a child, you feel like you could never be happy again. All of that changed in the blink of an eye. We gave her the name Emily and she is a beautiful, energetic little girl who is very curious about everything. Once again, our home is full of life and the sounds of a happy baby. Of course there are also sounds of things breaking, but there is nothing better.

Back in June, we celebrated her birthday and her baptism together. Now life is settling down and we are getting into a routine and all is well in our world.