What a week - Stork Landing is Official

Well I finally have a minute to myself.

This has been an incredible week. On Thursday the 9th of November it poured and poured and Mike headed off to Social Services to pick up our package. The kids made us promise that we wouldn't open it until they were home. So there it sat on our counter until the afternoon. I came home from work in the afternoon and sat in the driveway and all of a sudden was overwhelmed at what an amazing God we have. I couldn't help but feel how God had chosen us and every wrong thing I ever did popped into my mind and I couldn't believe that in spite of all of this He still chose to bless us. It was an incredible feeling. I went in the house and there were my three men just anxiously awaiting my arrival and Emily's. We wanted to get it on video but our friend who was going to video it for us couldn't come for a couple of hours and well we just couldn't wait any longer. The night before I was so nervous. I said to Mike what if she isn't the right one, after the blank stare and the don't be ridiculous head shake my guy reminded me where was my faith. So we opened the envelope. Everything was in a pile with an introductory letter on top. It was like peeling the tape off of a Christmas present slowly. I read the letter first and then we couldn't take it anymore. We turned the page and there she was the most incredibly beautiful, perfect face that I could have ever imagined. When I first looked at her I thought of course she is perfect for us how could I have doubted God! Her face is shaped similar to mine. They do try to match bone structure in the matching room but it's all God. Here is what we know about her. She was left outside of a park entrance when she was four days old dressed in a pink cotton outfit and wrapped in a blue towel with a note attached to her saying that she was born on November 16th, 2005 exactly nine months after we made the decision to adopt. How incredible is that. She is a 74 cm long and weighs 8.9kgs at 8 months. She loves to eat, is a deep sleeper, and loves toys that are musical. She is what we have always wanted or could have dreamed for. God answered the prayer we prayed two years earlier above and beyond anything we could have ever hoped or imagined. We spent the night visiting Grandparents who were ecstatic. I have been on cloud nine ever since. Our friends have been more loving than we could have ever imagined. Our church family was as excited as we were. She is going to be overwhelmed at the love that is waiting here for her. We celebrated with the other families going in our group. What a beautiful bunch of babies! Mike and I spent the day Monday shopping for a crib and some things for her room. Dad's birthday would have been Monday. I thought of him all day. He would have thought she was awesome! I'm sad he won't get to meet her. Mom is over the moon with excitement it's great to see her so happy again. Tuesday we signed our documents and said yahoo of course we want her. We had the doctor check out the paperwork and her iron is a bit low and on the growth charts for a Canadian child she is off the charts so it will be interesting to see what the next set of measurements are. We did up a care package sending an album of us and some clothes and a few disposable cameras and some things for her caretaker and a blanket and a toy. We sent it on Thursday she should have it in a week. It's just today that things are starting to die down and go somewhat back to normal. This week has been a whirlwind. I am going to now enjoy the time I have with just my boys until our family changes when we go and pick up....oh a name would be nice wouldn't it. Well her name will be Emily Elizabeth Lin. Elizabeth because it means sworn to God and Lin means beautiful and is her name given by the orphanage. I'm sure these next few weeks will fly by. Christmas will be here before we know it and then its up, up and away. How incredible. It will definitely be an adjustment. I am preparing myself now for the life change. I know it won't be easy then anything good usually isn't so I won't fret because I am surrounded by a loving support group and a loving God. We celebrated Emily's 1st birthday yesterday. We bought a cake and made a wish and prayed for her. We will celebrate again but yesterday we did it for her thousands of miles away.