One year ago tonight.

We saw her face.

Her big brown sad eyes.

And that little bit of hair.

She was so cute with her little unrepaired lip - wish I could share pics but I don't know how!

She had a bright smile.

And a look of promise.

Knowing that a new shared list was going to be coming out on the evening of Sunday, September 19, 2010, I called our agency on that Friday, September 17, 2010 to do a little checking up on the status of our paperwork. Our paperwork had just gone to China less than two weeks prior to this date. Friday proved to bring good news - not only did China have our paperwork, but we were given a log-in date and we were able to be possibly matched with a child on the new shared list. (If you are not in adoption land, this might be more than you want to know - sorry :) )Anyway, I talked with our agency on Friday. There was a baby girl in Guangzhou, just one year younger than MK, and her list name was "Juanita." She was such a sweet looking child and her name was the same as my grandmothers so I decided to inquire about her. We were told they would look into her case and get back with us the following week. And I specifically remember saying to our agency contact, "Well, if she is not available, will you please try to find a match for us on Sunday?" She promised that she would look but that she could not guarantee anything. I swallowed and reminded myself that I was not going to get worked up about being matched. After all, God had handpicked our baby girl and I had to trust that she would be revealed when the time was right. Those words are so easy to type and not nearly as easy to live by! I was already worked up even though we had been told to expect a 6-12 month wait for a match - and we were not even on ONE month!

So, the night came. We knew that IF we were to get a call, it would occur between the hours of 10pm and midnight. So, as usual, Ryan and I chatted, watched tv and fell asleep in our den. I remember waking up around 10:45, I woke Ryan up and said, "Well, I guess we really didn't get a match tonight." And with that, we climbed into bed and fell fast asleep - disappointed to say the least.

Around 11:30, in the calmness of the night, the phone rang. My heart was racing, my hand flung over and hit Ryan on the back and I shouted, "Oh my goodness, we have a baby - they found her!"

We floundered across the room to the phone and the only words I remember hearing were, ".....she is 13 months old and she is in Guizhou province and she is beautiful! Are you interested in seeing her file?" I believe I shouted "yes" before she even finished her description. The words, "13 months old...." left me in quite a stir - I was thinking 2 or possibly 2 1/2 - but 13 months old and that poor baby was just sitting there!

And, so it went.....we sat in front of the computer, the dino one, and waited for what seemed like eternity for it to kick into gear. Finally, we saw her. I said to Ryan, "So do you think she looks like a Drafts?" And in his convincing, smiling way, he said, "Yeah, I really do - she really looks like a Drafts."

Ryan, who has the gift of sleeping through anything, fell back asleep peacefully. I, on the other hand, thought about Maddox. What was she doing on that particular day? Who was caring for her? As the result of one little phone call, her orphan status was no more - and our life as the parents of four children began. It was a long, dreamy night for me :)