First Look

When the pictures came up on our computer screen, I could hardly believe those were they eyes of "our" daughter!!!! There she was - the child in our thoughts and hearts for so many years finally had a face! How my heart soared! I immediately forwarded the pictures and medical files onto Nate at work. He was so excited! We read that Gang Hao Mei was found on July 23, 2009 abandoned outside a gate where she was found and taken to the Maoming Maogang SWI orphanage.
That evening we were in touch with our pediatrician who works with families adopting internationally. From everything she could see from Gang Hao Mei's medical forms, it looked like her congenital heart disease was a minor heart murmur that very well may correct itself! We were blown away. We were prepared for heart surgery - from the medical condition form we had filled out in our initial adoption paperwork going with Holt's Child of Promise option. Holt International's Child of Promise is a checklist of "minor" correctible conditions families may be open to that expedites the time it takes for a child to be placed (we had heard that standard processing time through China was five years and growing, while families choosing to go with the Child of Promise were often matched within a year!). Now, it is still possible that when we bring Gang Hao Mei back to the states, she may still need to have heart surgery to correct her heart murmur, but from what our doctor can tell from the report, it looks like she is one pretty healthy, little girl:) How incredibly blessed we feel!
That night it was hard to go to sleep. We must have scanned over Hao Mei's pictures hundreds of times:) We have a daughter! I still can hardly believe it! I can't wait to meet her! Again I am reminded though that God's timing is "always" perfect. So, when I find myself growing anxious and wanting to get over to China to get her, I know that even in this "waiting" phase, God is in control and His timing will be right!

April 21, 2010 - A day we will always remember for it was this day that we first saw the face of our daugther born in China! They day was sunny, bright! Not much different from any other day in Alabama and yet the event that took place set it apart from any other day yet encountered and ever to occur again. It was five to 11 a.m. and Ainsley (3), Anniston (1), and I were in the van driving to pick Annalise up from pre-school. Most days I am just in a rush and focused on getting Annalise picked up on time, but this day as we were pulling out of our sub-division, I found my thoughts turning towards China and a child I knew was out there waiting for us. As I stopped and pulled away from the STOP sign, I began praying, "Lord, you know my heart. You know my desires. You know the love I have for a child I have not yet met but know exists. Sometimes I become so impatient as I wait for this child to enter our lives and join our family, but Lord, I know that Your timing is "always" perfect and I want the timing of this child to be "Your" timing and not mine. But Lord, I do pray that if it be "Your" will that a child referral will come through soon." Not more than five seconds had passed since I uttered those last words (just strides from that STOP sign:)) that my cell phone began to ring. As I was driving, I was fidgetting in my purse trying to find my phone. By the time I located it, the phone had stopped ringing. I quickly scrolled through to see who placed the call to find that it was our adopting agenct - HOLT International! My heart leapt! I quickly dialed back the number only to find that Masha Ma was on the other line. I left a message and as I pulled up to get Annalise, quickly called Nate at work. He was so excited and we rejoiced together! We were pretty confident that we knew what the call was:) Masha Ma called me back while we were on the road leading to our sub-division and I will never forget the conversation as she told me that they had a possible child referral for us and that pictures and information would be sent to our e-mail within the next hour! She said that it was a little girl named Gang Hao Mei. She was nine months old (with a birthday of July 23 - Nate's and my anniversary is July 24 and Anniston Rose's birthday is July 25!) and had congenital heart disease. Masha Ma said we would need to meet with our chosen doctor - who deals with international adoption pediatrics - to discuss the severity of her condition. Was there any doubt that this was our daughter!:)

Our Adoption Journey

Nate and I began our adoption for China through Holt International in October of 2007. Today is June 17 and we have heard that our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) is on its way. We actually received our LOA June 1st, but there was an error in the spelling of Nate's name, so it had to be sent back and re-issued - ugh! Hopefully very soon though. Once we receive that, the clock starts ticking and we've heard that we will most likely be traveling to China in late Aug. or Sept. We are soooo excited! Our little Anya is there waiting for us and we are so ready to go:)