Our First "Gotcha Day"

       As I sit and soak in the face of this sweet little Asian baby beside me, I can't help but get lost in the memories of the first day she became our child. It was one year ago today, to be exact, and I can remember it like it was just a few minutes ago. We left our hotel early that morning with our entire travel group. We were all anxiously anticipating the arrival of our little ones, as if we were all in labor and heading to the delivery room. You could practically reach out and touch the excitement in the air. We waited in a cold waiting room while several different babies were brought to their parents, one at a time. It seemed like an eternity waiting to see the face of our newest addition. Finally a black van pulled up and a cute little Asian lady climbed out with a piggy tailed little girl. I knew without a doubt this was our child. She looked very unsure of what was going on and of her surroundings. After all, she had been on a train for the past 12 hours and had been taken away from the only Mommy and Daddy she had ever known, her foster parents. As they walked up the steps, I felt as if I truly was giving birth, the absolute elation that comes over a mother when her baby is being born. It was so unreal and amazing all at the same time. She was a total little bundle of Chinese love in her 4 layers of pants and coats. 

      

        She was very reluctant to go to Kelly and me and was not a very happy camper. She took up with her sister, Annabeth, pretty quickly and didn't want anyone but her. That was fine with us, as long as she was happy and not crying, as many of the children were. 

All I could do was look in awe at this child God had blessed us with, as I did with our 4 children I had given birth to. I knew He had huge plans ahead for us. Good, bad or ugly, we were in this for the long haul. She was finally ours and no one else's. God had made her just to be our daughter.

 That day has faded now into a sweet memory and many adventures have happened over the past year. Our children seem to be the busiest ever and life seems to be passing in a blur. From the time we returned home, we were thrown into Annabeth's activities of her Senior year, the boys' sports, Ivy's cheerleading and Mary Alan being a typical toddler. We wouldn't want life any other way though. Through laundry over-taking us, toys creating our walkways, homework being our family time and ballgames being the highlight of our nights, life is so good. We seem to thrive in the chaos. The joy and laughter of a baby we have only known for 12 months has bonded us more as a family than we ever could have imagined.

       God has grown our faith so much through this whole process. We can look back and see His hand through ever step of our journey and we know that HE directed our path. We are so thankful we took this leap of faith and trusted Him. If only we could do that with everything in our lives. He knows what we need when we have no idea. He knows what the future holds. We Don't! He doesn't say it will be easy, but it will be a huge blessing to follow Him! We totally know that for sure! God has truly blessed us with a miracle! We have now GOTCHA Mary Alan and you'll always be our little girl!!

Love in Him,