One Year Ago Today!

One year ago today our lives were forever changed. After a two year wait, we finally received "The Call." It was a Thursday afternoon at about 3:30. Matt happened to be home because he was getting ready to go to softball practice for the team he was assistant coaching. When the phone rang and it was Beth, Holt's China Director, our hearts just skipped a beat. We new that this was it! We had only selected one condition and had always known that we would accept the referral when a call came. Matt turned on the speaker phone so that we could both hear the details. Beth told us that there was a little girl named Yu Cai Juan in Xinyu, Jiangxi province who needed a family. Her birthday is January 29, 2007. She told us that she enjoys music and is shy. She is a happy little girl in fostercare. She asked us if we would like to review her file. Of course, we said, "yes!" She emailed us Cai Juan's file and told us that we had 24hrs to make a decision. As soon as we saw her gorgeous little face and huge eyes and lips, we fell in love and knew that she was ours. We just sobbed. The whole thing was so surreal. We printed off all the info and got in the car. My parents were at their church practicing for the Easter Cantata. We made the 1hr drive and ran into the foyer. I asked a friend who I saw in the hall to go have my parents come out of practice. They came out and we just started to cry tears of joy and held up Emma's picture. I said, "We have a daughter." We all cried and word quickly spread back into the sanctuary where the choir (most of whom I have known my entire life) were cheering and clapping. It was such an incredible moment. I'm so glad that I was able to share the news with them in the church that I grew up in. It was very special. Next it was off to my brother's house. We walked in the door and they were really surprised to see us. I held up Emma's picture and they all started jumping up and down and screaming. Tressa, quickly took some photos of us to send with our LOI to China. Then we went to my grandparents' house to tell them. By this time, Matt's family in California was finally getting out of work. We called them and emailed them Emma's pictures. They were all just thrilled, too! Matt's mom went shopping that night! For the next 2 months our lives were pretty much chaos! We submitted our Letter of Intent to China on March 14. On May 20, we were on a plane heading for China. Five days later she was in our arms forever. When we were waiting, it seemed like the years just dragged and dragged. Now it seems like yesterday that the phone rang. How time flies when you are having fun!