SEEING OUR BEAUTIFUL BABY FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

After many months of waiting, one year ago today (Nov. 3, 2006) was the day that we seen our precious daughter for the first time.

The day started early. Who could sleep??!!!!! Eddie and I talked several times on the phone that morning. As soon as the referral package arrived, Mom & I would be leaving to meet Eddie in London, KY. Not really knowing what time the delivery would come, we went ahead and got ready and it was a good thing........"THE BIG BROWN STORK ARRIVED" at approximately 9:20am and when the driver came to the door I was already snapping pictures. I told him that he had a very precious package and that I had to meet my husband in London to open it, that we wanted to see her face for the first time together and if everything went the way we hoped, that we would be in China with her around Christmas. He was so thrilled for us!! What happened next just confirmed to me AGAIN that GOD is in control of everything. HE placed adoption in our hearts several years ago, but HE knew when the time would be and then HE showed us in so many wonderful and touching ways that it was time. HE gave us such a peace in our hearts when we followed HIS direction and started our adoption for Eden. Not only did HE bless us with the BIGGEST BLESSING OF ALL, a beautiful child, but along our journey HE gave us so MANY "surprise" blessings and this was one of them......The UPS driver said that he would like to PRAY for our daughter in China, to pray over our referral, would that be o.k.? YES!!!!!YES!!!! I will say that it did take me by surprise. He prayed a beautiful prayer and Mom and I both were crying by the end of it. God's love is the GREATEST!! When we arrived in London, Eddie was standing in the parking lot waiting for us. I barely had the vehicle stopped when he opened the door, kissed me and wanted to see the package. I had asked Mom to take pictures for us........."just keep on snapping"......that's what I remember telling her. (Thanks Mom!!!!! You done a great job!!) When we opened the package and seen her face......words can't describe what we were feeling.....We will never forget it!!! Our beautiful baby girl, it made everything so real now. We wanted to leave for China that day!! We will remember every little detail of that day forever!!! We were so overjoyed and our hearts were overflowing with love for our child!!! The Lord also gave us a very beautiful and sunny day. I remember the sky being so clear and blue.

One Year Ago Today..........

Thursday, November 2, 2006 ------- It's 3:00am and I tell myself....NO, you are not getting up to check the CCAA website to see if the referral date has changed, you just checked it a couple of hours ago before going to bed. Eddie is working but I know he is as anxious to hear that the referrals are being or have been sent to Children's Hope from China as I am..........I can't believe now that I was able to fall back asleep, but by 5: 45am I was up, out of bed and checking the website and I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT I WAS SEEING!!!!!! IT HAD CHANGED, IT HAD CHANGED.......OUR REFERRAL IS COMING!!!!!!!! I kept reading and looking at it over & over....I called Eddie and got he's voice mail.....CALL ME!!! THE DATE HAS CHANGED AND OUR REFERRAL IS ON IT'S WAY. TODAY JUST MIGHT BE THE DAY WE FINALLY HEAR, "IT'S A GIRL"!!! I called my dad (he was still working, I didn't get him). I then called Mom or did she call me????? I know that she too had been watching the China web-page were they record what referrals were sent out. But anyway, we were so excited......still, we would have to wait a few more hours, hoping and praying that DHL would deliver a package to Children's Hope today. So......gotta get ready and go to work. Everyone at First National Bank was so excited to hear that today might be the day. They all have been so supportive of Eden's adoption. I kept checking the CHI chat-group e-mails and by now Ann (Director of the China Program) had reported the date change on the referrals and as soon as the delivery service came, she would e-mail again. By 10:00-10:30am we knew for sure that THEY WERE HERE!!!! CHI would be calling within a couple of hours with information on our little girl, so I needed to get home. At 12:20pm, we received the call from Vonda at CHI..........YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL WAITING FOR YOU IN FENGCHENG CITY, JIANGXI, CHINA. HER NAME IS, "FENG, LIAN ER " AND SHE WAS BORN ON JAN. 10, 2006..........CHI would overnight our referral package to us, the picture(s) will be in that, but Vonda did send one picture of Eden to us by e-mail. She said that it was a copy, so it might not be too clear. She was right, you couldn't tell to much about her. I wanted to wait until Eddie & I both could see it so I didn't open it at first, but Eddie had talked me into opening it. He also said to share it with our families (and friends & co-workers at the bank). He kept reminding me that tomorrow we, together would be looking at the "real" pictures. My mom came over and stayed the night with me. She would be going with me tomorrow to meet Eddie at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in London, KY and then we, Eddie & I together would open the Referral of our daughter. We would see her face for the first time together.

The picture above was taken on this day one year ago by a good friend and co-worker, Tammy Aaron (Thank You Tammy!! I'm so glad that I have this picture!!). I had already talked with Eddie and I was now talking to my parents and my mother-in-law, telling them that I was on my way home, the agency would be calling very soon.

Happy Halloween--2007

Our little "Ladybug" had a GREAT (but very busy) Halloween day. She had fun in her costume and loved wearing her wings.
Eden & her cousin Shelby.
The day before Halloween, Eden received a couple of cards in the mail. She loves getting mail!!! And, she gets it every day because the junk mail goes to Eden. But, this day was different and you could see that she knew it too. She had received two cards, one from our friend Jill and one from her grandparents.