With three sons in the family, my daughter-in-law woke up one night in the middle of the night and said,  “Our daughter is in China and we need to go get her!”  After much time of application, interviews, and preparation, they were finally accepted to receive their little girl. The time was drawing near when the bird flu epidemic arose and threatened my granddaughter’s arrival.  We were all hoping and praying!  I received the card you see above. If you click on the card and enlarge it, you can read the quote about the “Red Thread”.  I put the card in my journal and held the words of hope in my heart.

One day during this waiting time, I was writing in my journal, reading again the card, and suddenly I remembered that I had an Asian doll when I was a little girl.  My Mom gave it to me.  Her Mom, my grandmother, had traveled around the world and brought the doll to her when she was a little girl. I searched through all my old dolls in the attic and I found the doll.  She was a bit worn from all that love, and I had to glue her hair back on her head.  I set her down on the table beside me.  I wondered if she was from China.  I didn’t really know, but I so wanted her to be from China!  Well, I could pretend, but I wanted to KNOW!  Then suddenly I glanced at the bottom of her shoe and my grandmother had written “China” on the bottom of her shoe!  I was so excited to know!  Then, I noticed something else.  There were red threads woven into her braids!  Oh my goodness….the red threads!  That moment was huge for me.  I read the card again….

“When a child is born, invisible red threads extend from the child’s spirit and connect to all the significant people who will be part of the child’s life.” The child’s great, great grandmother, her great grandmother, her grandmother….we were all present in some way in that moment in those red threads!   Somehow I knew God had whispered to me that my granddaughter had arrived.  Soon she would be coming.

My granddaughter Anna is now 10 years old.  You see her picture above.  She is beautiful in every way.  Recently she was doing a history project for school and she wanted to know all about when and why our ancestors came to America.  I wrote her all about my grandmother, her great, great grandmother, and how her family came to America on a sailboat from Germany many years ago.  Anna was so excited to hear all about her family.

One night we crawled into her bed together. She read me a book.  Suddenly she stopped in the middle of her reading and said to me, “Grandma, I think you and I are alike!”  I love her so much!

nk