Beautiful Baby Girl

This week, we saw a picture of our baby girl for the first time!!!! One might think that in the 17 years that I have been praying and thinking about adoption I would have thought about what I would actually say when the day finally came that I got to see my baby's face.  Well, I was ill-prepared and am completely at a loss to adequately articulate all the feelings and emotions that have flooded over me this week.
  

Monday night was a "Match Night."  These have started to happen more frequently, so I really didn't think much about it on Monday.  The China team had informed us that we would be notified if we received a referral and if you didn't hear anything, it was safe to assume that you did not receive a referral.  There was no phone call or email on Monday night. Bummer, but with it being our 12 match night, I was starting to get used to the feeling.  

Tuesday morning, Walker and I were on the way to the church for Bible Study when my phone rang.  I didn't know the number but answered anyway and heard our case worker from the China Team say, "Good morning Wesley!  How would you feel about a referral?"  Um seriously??? I was like " I would LOVE a referral!"  She talked for a couple of minutes and all I heard was "girl" "17 months old" and "repaired cleft lip."  I wheeled into the church literally on 2 wheels as she said she was emailing me the file right then.  I was shaking like crazy and called J 5 times before he answered.  Oops.  He was in a meeting. We got Walker dropped in the nursery and I ran up to Bible Study to tell them I would be a little late.  J and I went down the hall and opened up all the referral documents and started to read about the most precious little girl.  Y'all, I CAN NOT WAIT to show you her picture because she is seriously beautiful.  I could not help but get emotional as I read the details like "chubby cheeks," and "loves biscuits and baby dolls."  We then sent her file to our medical team for their evaluations/recommendations.  They checked things out and gave us the green light to proceed and submit our formal intent to adopt this sweet girl!!!!  There are many things that still have to be done before we can bring her home, but we are hopeful that we will travel sometime around the first of the year.  

We are just overwhelmed by God's goodness and how present He has been throughout this entire process.  He has been so faithful and it is truly a blessing to be a part of this story.  Tuesday was my Mammaw Jones' birthday.  A day that was going to be tough in the wake of her recent death turned out to be a day of joy in celebration of our Emma.  How cool is that?  His timing is pretty amazing!!!  There are MANY ups and downs as you go through the adoption process but the picture of redemption that adoption paints is just beautiful.  We are so thankful that there will now be one less orphan in the world and we CAN NOT WAIT TO BRING EMMA HOME!!!!!!