My name is Gloriana Marie Hughes.  I live in Valdosta, Georgia, with my husband, Rick, and our son, Ricardo Michael, who is six.  We are in the process of adding to our family:  in just a few weeks we are adopting a little girl from China.

Our new child to be is named Lilyanna Xi Lin.  She is three years old; she also has serious special needs that need to be dealt with once she arrives in America. 

Lilyanna has a severe heart defect that requires surgery as soon as possible or else it could kill her; it's that serious.  Of course, we are concerned, but we are putting our faith in our Lord and Saviour to help her through the surgery (and afterwards).

Lilyanna is beautiful:  she has longish, silky-straight black hair, huge obsidian almond-shaped eyes, a tiny snub of a nose, and pretty bow lips, as well as a round, moon face.  She looks like the picture of health once you first see her; however, once you were to glance at her picture, you would notice that her lips are blue.

It's because of her heart defect.

We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, getting our place ready for our new daughter.  We have her room just about in order, and we've gotten a ton of clothes (mainly from my sister, Maddie, who lives in Conyers).

Maddie has five children:  two boys (Kensington and newly-adopted Emmanuel, who is from Kenya, Africa; he came last week), and three girls (Kaylie, Khristmas, and Korina Grace, who was adopted nearly two years ago from Vietnam).  They are adorable; I just love them all to pieces!

We don't know what the future holds for Lily, but we have been praying for her, for God to keep her safe, and for Him to keep her well enough to make the long airplane ride from China (right now she's in an orphanage in Beijing).  We do know that she is on oxygen; that's what our caseworker has told us.  She's had a lot of trouble with her breathing because of her heart issues.

It will be a scary, uncertain time when Lily does have all of her examinations, tests, and ultimately the surgery, but again, we are putting our trust in the Lord to get her (and us) through this.

I will write more again when Lilyanna arrives; just keep us (and her) in your prayers; we will need them, especially when she has her heart surgery! 

Thanking you in advance~

Sincerely, Gloriana Marie Hughes.  :)

P.S.:  My husband is a firefighter; as for me, I am a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher.