(Originally written on Sept 30 2013)
We got another MIRACLE this morning!!!
We got PA from CHINA!!!! (Pre-approval to adopt our baby girl!!!) It is now official and we can share the news of our Gianna Lilyfaith with the world!!!
read on for more miracles…..
Ok, if you’ve read our latest most awesome and incredible family news then you know how the Lord has taken us on an incredible journey to make HIS will known to us in a very powerful way about our daughter, Gianna Lilyfaith
If you haven’t read it yet….please go read it now!!! You will need to know the whole story!
Then…come back here! 🙂
I am here to testify that HE IS NOT DONE displaying HIS mighty hand in this journey! It is our desire that our Journey be a living testimony to HOW big GOD is, how HE PROVIDES powerfully to those who step out in faith, and how He reveals HIS heart for the orphan!
It’s been a scary journey to take a blind leap, especially when you really don’t know where you will land. I guess it’s a lot like sky-diving..you know …or think you will be ok, because the instructor has told you that all is in place for you to have a safe landing. But, the only way to know for sure…is to simply jump and trust. One step forward…and FALL BACK.
That is what GOD has asked of us: TO TRUST. To put our faith in action. TO walk the talk.
it is hard.
We find ourselves SO grateful for what He has done for us, and shouting praises for salvation….yet, so paralyzed by fear to really follow where He calls us…to the hard places. Because it’s not safe.
We don’t want to be play it safe anymore. But, we are not special, just scared human beings with a big God and we are in awe He has chosen us to enter into this story of brokeness.
We are called to “TRUST FALL BACKWARDS on the LORD” even when we don’t see Him!
And He promises to catch us.
He promised to be our strength in the days ahead as we walk our daughter through future scary open heart surgeries…He promises to equip us through all the future health unknowns….
‘You’re my servant, serving on my side.
I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you.’
Don’t panic. I’m with you.
There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you
(Is. 41:10)
Well…. we jumped…..we jumped holding our hands tightly together, clinching firmly to IS. 41:10, squeezing our eyes shut and praying for His arms to catch us.
And, they were there…HIS ARMS ARE BIG, PEOPLE!!
…and the story continues:
So….finally, after much prayer and seeking after God’s will WE GET TO CALL GIANNA OURS!!! WHAT A GIFT!!!!
I knew she was ours from the moment I laid eyes on her….My heart was relieved….
SO OUR HEARTS WERE BURSTING WITH JOY!
To think, we could have missed her!!
THANK GOD FEAR DID NOT WIN!
His grace overwhelms us.
GOD WAS VICTORIOUS!
ok, Here’s more miracles….GET READY!!!!! SERIOUSLY…are ya ready to hear this?
It’s crazy…it wasn’t till after we made the BLIND LEAP that GOD flooded us with amazing realizations about our daughter and confirmations that we were in HIS WILL!! THAT HE WAS POWERFULLY GOING BEFORE US TO BREAK DOWN THE MOUNTAINS!
had we not leaped…we would NOT have seen GOD!!!!
Now, if you remember from our Part 1: while we were praying about what to do,,,we were hoping and BEGGING and praying for something on our new baby girl before LEAPING…some more info on her past and current illness and surgeries before “making the decision to proceed’..the whole needing “sight” before walking thing.. needing the peace of the world.
But, God gives a different kind of peace.
John 14:27
Amplified Bible (AMP)
27 Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]
We almost let her go….for fear. Fear of stepping out, fear of being uncomfortable, fear of not feeling adequate and being in a position of WHOLEY reliance on the Lord and not ourselves.
FEAR OF really really needing GOD!
BUT, that is right where God wanted us.
2 Corintians 12:9 says:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
God grabbed us. and, spoke to us. I am so glad He did!
thankfully, before committing, we did get some answers to some general questions which were encouraging and helped propel us forward and was used divinely in hearing “HIS COMMAND”, but we were hoping for more medical information on her medical needs and medical test updates, someone who could give us reassuring news after having been with her….ya know…we needed some logical peace……some guarantees.
ANYTHING that would make this decision feel safer, to make it make “more sense.”
But..then if that was what we had…….why would we Need HIM SO BADLY?
“God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him.”
HE asked us to walk in faith…showed us through HIS word to trust HIM .
I am so thankful HE KEPT PURSUING US!!
..He just kept telling us “TRUST -FALL BACK ON ME even if you can not see me!”…walk in faith!!!
AND, we did…in His grace, we took a BLIND LEAP! Not knowing much at all (in regard to sweet baby’s health future) but knowing FULL well that she was our daughter…..and now, just a week later, we are getting showered on by His blessings of knowledge of our baby girl…..contacts, photos….stories…GOD STORIES!! SO Thankful God chose us!
I can barely handle all of God’s miracles right now!!!!
SO, let me start at the beginning of this wild rush of GOD’s BLESSINGS and CONFIRMATIONS!!
God did not need to do this for us, it is all his grace and mercy.
I was up one night. And…I had an evening nap, so I was terribly awake at midnight!!!
Well….as I was finishing up many of my tasks, I started to get a restless feeling about something.
I felt like God was going to show me something about our sweet Gianna, but I knew I had to dig to find it. I wanted to FIND out where my daughter was!
I only knew that her file said which SWI she was “officially represented under” however, through research, came to the conclusion that many children from that orphanage are fostered out.
So, I now figured the chances of Gianna being fostered were pretty good. BUT WHERE, WHO???
I knew, from research, that it was probably a group foster home. (God was bringing me along)
So, I researched and googled every group foster home in her area I could find or knew of. I searched for hours trying to match our photo with the “decor/ furniture/ cribs” of other foster homes photos on google images. I would check “children lists” on their websites ….And, I was coming up with nothing.
I couldn’t find her! BUT I WAS DETERMINED that God would reveal her!!! I couldnt let it go!!
three hours later…
… I had remembered that a friend contacted me a day before (who also had adopted from the same SWI) and told me where her children had been fostered. Why hadn’t I already thought about that clue!!!
I saw the names she told me about and googled them right away!
and the second name I googled brought me to a foster home, named: Harmony House…then I went RIGHT to their “our children” page….and I scrolled, and THERE SHE WAS!!!
MY DAUGHTER POPPED OFF THE PAGE!!!
GOD HAD REVEALED HER TO ME!!
there was my baby girl!! I couldn’t believe it, I had found her, I was reading about her!!! so many tears!
“….We decided to call little Baoqiao Lily in honor of our own Harmony House Director Lily Huang who takes such loving care of all the children who come to her. Lily says that her namesake is somewhat introverted but is a beautiful, sweet and smart little girl with bright, expressive eyes.”
Here it was 4am, and I was literally on the floor and balling my eyes out at this miracle!
SERIOUSLY HYPERVENTILATING!!
It was as if I was looking for a needle in a haystack, and GOD HAD ME FIND HER!!! A MIRACLE!
Ok, that was the first part of the miracle! I know….crazy, right!
Now…I needed to know more about this foster home who was caring for my baby girl!!
Enter: the NEXT HUGE MIRACLE:
The foster home is a Christian run home.
My heart was SO relieved upon hearing and reading about the vision of this amazing caring facility. I couldn’t imagine my baby Gianna in a better place!
I watched their ministry video and the fist thing I saw was the Isaiah verse that GOD had given us!! they used this verse in the beginning of the video! This verse was used by the Lord previously to point us to Gianna!
Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
MORE CONFIRMATIONS!!!!
I fell to my knees and thanked GOD for his miracles in her life!!!
See, this little one…she is a survivor. She had been in and out of the hospitals enduring MUCH for her little age…..
But, she did NOT have to go through it alone. It was the love of these CARING AMAZING ANGELS who prayed her through it!
And, GOD JUST KEPT reigning down the blessings.
Miraculously, I was contacted by a fellow adoptive momma who knew of a missionary who had traveled to Harmony Outreach last year and KNEW MY BABY GIRL!! She didn’t just meet her, she prayed loudly over her, rocked her and stayed up late in the hospital with her. She had been in the hospital for almost 2 months fighting for her life against a deadly infection of bacterial meningitis.
SHE HELPED SAVE HER LIFE!! I am eternally grateful for the host of angels and warriors HE surrounded my baby girl with to protect her.
THEN…THEN…THEN…..as if my heart couldn’t swell any more from my joy, IT BURSTED RIGHT OUT OF MY CHEST!!!!!!!!!!!
I got these pics from this amazing friend….
I couldn’t even see through my tears as I looked at this pic….look at how my baby girl was loved on.
.
This special friend’s expression…I know it…I feel the compassion and empathy through her eyes….I am holding my baby girl with her…
I feel connected to this Harmony family in a way that words can never express….
I am eternally grateful for the prayers and fierce love that nurtured her back to health…
These photos…they bring on such a feeling of sadness….to think of the pain she went through, it brings me to tears…ugly tears to imagine what my baby girl went through without me by her side.
But, then I feel a peace..a deep peace. She had a fleet of angels around her. God provided.
The love she is receiving makes my heart well up with a profound gratefulness and joy and appreciation and joy for the loving hands and hearts of the amazing Harmony Family.
I see Jesus in them…they were Jesus to my baby girl…..
Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ (matt 25:45)
My heart is bursting… BURSTING!!
God is in EVERY DETAIL…like always. But, its amazing when you get a divine glimpse at HIS HAND, HIS POWER, HIS DIVINE INTERVENTION!! Especially when it’s your very own daughter who is 1/2 world away!!!!
Consumed for worry……yet now, there is a peace that has replaced my worry. There is still an aching to be with her, of course….BUT A DEEP DEEP PEACE, not a peace that the world gives, but PEACE THAT only GOD GIVES.
 |
This is beautiful Lily, the director of the China foster home, Gianna was named after her .
She is very bonded to her….She will always be connected to her in a very profound and deep way. Gianna will know her and the whole Harmony family forever. |
Just look at my warrior, my princess!! She is a survivor who KNOWS LOVE!!!!!! Oh God’s mercies overwhelm me!
 |
| (psalm 139:14)
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. |
And, as if that wasn’t enough…..the miracles just kept pouring down. GOD’s OUTPOURING of GRACE!!
I then got connected with a dear friend of a friend (My dear sister, Tina), who I believe I will be connected to deeply for the rest of my life for how she has loved on my baby girl.
She served regularly in Gianna’s Foster home, volunteering…and MORE blessings have flowed through this very special servant of the Lord.
Stories of our little warrior girl….
She told me about how she has held her in her loving arms, adored her, and prayed over her for her family to find her. I have chills.
I feel like I have seen the face of GOD through these miracles..
OH. MY. HEART!!!!!!!!!! Oh LORD, what are you doing?
Your GOODNESS OVERWHELMS US, LORD!
 |
| we love you baby Gia, and we want to smother you in kisses! |
So….Gianna Faith is now
Gianna Lilyfaith Cannelongo
Named after the legacy of her China famiy who helped save her life! Who have poured their love, hearts and souls into my baby girl.
We are eternally grateful for how they are being used by the Lord.
“lilyfaith” is one word…
“lily flower” represents: “BEAUTY”
I LOVE that: her names means:
“God’s gracious gift of BEAUTIFUL FAITH”
And, another discovery that God led me to was learning more about the precious family who started Harmony Outreach.
….back story:
Years ago, when I felt God was calling us to adopt I wanted to read everything I could get my hands on. Then, a friend suggested
this book to me, telling me it would affect me like nothing ever had before.
SHE. WAS. RIGHT.
It changed me, broke me, I was never the same. My love for the orphan grew ten-fold.
This amazing story is about an American Family who traveled to China to work in a Christian orphanage and ended up saving the life of a critically burned infant left to die. With their faith and determination they saved his life and later adopted him. Many people came together to make this all possible. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
And….this dear family who touched my heart profoundly is the same family that started Harmony House!
To think that GOD brought us full circle. I had fallen in love with this family almost 4 years ago…but little did I know how profoundly they would be used in my life to care for my very own daughter.
I am overwhelmed.
God ways are SO much higher than our ways…but, we will NEVER EVER get that glimpse if we don’t step out of that COMFORT BOX!!
I want to encourage you, …to GET UNCOMFORTABLE, stop playing it safe!!!!!
THEN get ready to see GOD MOVE IN WAYS THAT ARE UNIMAGINABLE!!!!
To think…we could have missed this blessing…had it not been for the grace of God to get a hold of our hearts…had it not been for DEAR FAITHFUL prayer warriors who covered us with shields of armor. They encouraged us to not let FEAR win, but to seek God. They locked shields together over us to protect us as we battled and wrestled through prayer seeking for GOD’s answer…
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| Tolly with her Gia dolly, she wanted to put a boo-boo bandaid on her head….and take care of her. |
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
(Matt 7:7,8)
And, (keepin’ it real here)
it doesn’t mean we aren’t scared or have fears of the unknowns…it simply means we walk forward confidently and with much confidence despite our fears. Walking forward in faith that “even in the unknowns”
There is an undercurrent of PEACE that is our anchor. Our anchor is that it is safer to be in God’s will, no matter how uncomfortable, then to be out of His will in comfort.
God has promised to strengthen us and equip us for one of the biggest blessings of our lives, knowing full well HE IS WITH US.
Fear will not win.
Gianna Lilyfaith CanneLongo
…there is one less orphan in this world. And….make no mistake,
“we” are the blessed ones. SO. VERY. BLESSED.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him, You must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(Heb 11:6)
Our beautiful Gia-girl
a rare gem…
a precious treasure.
We are so grateful to our God!
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I love every single thing about this post. Amazing.
I loved reading everything you wrote! I especially loved the final picture with the beautiful words and signed, Love your mama. We will keep praying for you on your journey. Keep us posted. Much Love to you guys!
What supernatural moments – thank you for sharing your story of faith and God's faithfulness. Can't wait to meet little Gianna!
Absolutely beautiful and amazing…and so like our good Father! Congrats. 🙂
Oh I'm just so very excited and thrilled for you!!!! God is already moving mountains!! What a powerful little warrior you have!!!!
Soooooo wonderful!!!!!! Love the journey and The evidence of God in it all. Blessings and love
I am so excited to hear that you are are bringing Lily into your family. Our son is from Harmony House and what a WONDERFUL place. Lily was still in the hospital when we traveled to get our son, who is 10. But I assure you she has received tons of love and care by Harmony! Welcome to the Harmony House family….our son, John will be so happy to see her photo at the bottom of the page next to his…those children who have received their forever families!!!!
I am so excited to hear that you are are bringing Lily into your family. Our son is from Harmony House and what a WONDERFUL place. Lily was still in the hospital when we traveled to get our son, who is 10. But I assure you she has received tons of love and care by Harmony! Welcome to the Harmony House family….our son, John will be so happy to see her photo at the bottom of the page next to his…those children who have received their forever families!!!!
I am so excited to hear that you are are bringing Lily into your family. Our son is from Harmony House and what a WONDERFUL place. Lily was still in the hospital when we traveled to get our son, who is 10. But I assure you she has received tons of love and care by Harmony! Welcome to the Harmony House family….our son, John will be so happy to see her photo at the bottom of the page next to his…those children who have received their forever families!!!!
so glad that we are now family with you all!! connected by the incredible Harmony home!! We are so grateful to know she is getting such good care and deep love while she waits…while we wait to hold her and bring her home!! I am so thankful!
Be still my heart.
Your story with Gia has very much touched my heart as GOD has touched me. I am walking away from a very comfortable church to move on with GOD. You and your family and GIA have overwhelmed me and I am so glad to be a piece of it. Thank you
Thank you for sharing some of the miracles God gave you in your hearts and in your lives. To Him be the glory…….