While We Wait

Thought I would share a bit about our girl. I was wanting to write a big, "hip, hip, hooray" post today stating that we did receive our Pre Approval. No such luck - we are getting nowhere fast at this point, sigh. So, in the meantime, here are a few tidbits about our girl

• She will be around 19ish months old when we bring her home making the age difference between the girls 2 1/2 years.
• She is a deep sleeper - hopefully this stands true
• She is described as being active
• She is a tiny little peanut - born tiny and most likely will always be petite.
• She laughs aloud
• She is in foster care and has been since she was two months old
• She had her lip repair done in China about a month ago and we are curious to see some updated pics!
• She has big, brown eyes and fuzzy black hair in her referral pics - reminds us of MK
• She has two teeth
• She is crawling and sitting
• A year ago, while we were visiting the beach being reunited with the family that traveled with us in China, a little baby girl was born on the other side of the world and God has chosen her for our family
• Six months ago, on the very day that we were celebrating two years with MK (Gotcha Day), little M was having her photos taken and her paperwork prepared for her adoption
• And, finally, her name will be Maddox (insert a very meaningful part of her Chinese name here) Drafts. Ryan has never agreed right away with any of our children's names. He has always had a comment. With Colin he was concerned that nicknames would be used - hmmm. With Pryce, who is named after Ryan's own grandmother, he just didn't care for it - not sure why but after our sonogram, where Pryce was photographed all snuggled up sucking his little thumb, I put my foot down and said his name was going to be Pryce - he just looked like a Pryce! With Mason-Kate, her name was always to be Mason - any child that came into our lives and was female, was to be named Mason. I worked with an attorney before I got married and his mother's name was Mason. I loved it and decided at that time I would one day have a little girl named Mason! It was original for a girl AND it was a family name to boot! Well, I caved somewhat when Ryan suggested the name Kate. I liked Kate but everyone, it seemed, was being named Kate. During the adoption process, I called her Mason, Ryan called her Kate and the boys came up with the idea of Mason-Kate...thus, Mason-Kate's name came to be. So our little Maddox. Truth be told, I actually got the name out of a baby name book while visiting a bookstore with the children. I came home and suggested it to Ryan, who to my surprise said, "I really like that!" Finally, on our fourth child, he likes a name from the get-go. The part that brings it all together, is that Maddox happens to be the last name of a very special family I grew up babysitting for. They were a family who had six children and whom I remain close to today. They were and always be very special to me, from the children all the way up to their parents. Because of them, because of the experiences I shared with their family at their home or traveling the United States, I knew that one day I too would like to have a large family of my own. There was definitely never a dull moment. So for us, naming our little girl Maddox is bringing it all full circle.