The stork has arrived!

On Thursday February 19, we received a call from our agency that we 'might' be included in the next batch of referrals from China. There were no guarantees but they thought that it was a possibility. That batch was expected Feb 25-27. Oh crap! Was it really going to happen??!!!! This was the first night of restless sleep of many to come...

The week of the 23rd was incredibly long. Not daring to leave the computer for long and wearing out the refresh button, I spent infinite hours checking http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/ (Rumor Queen) for updates on when & if the next batch of referrals was leaving China. By the end Friday, there was no news. The week had been unusually and eerily quiet on the Rumor Queen web site. We (really, it was me) were distressed that we'd been missed for this month's batch and resolved ourselves to a weekend of distractions.

On Sunday, we started to see postings from Australia & Europe. Unfortunately, there was nothing from North America... The 'babies' day on Rumor Queen has sadly become the highlight of each month for me as this is the day that everyone who has received a proposal posts their new baby's picture. The hours ticked by, and then the days, and a path was worn in to the carpet. Is it our turn to post that beloved photos??

Monday was dead silent on the blog site. What was going on?! This is VERY unusual and the anxiety was unbearable!

On Tuesday, I called our agency to see if there was anything coming. They had not had any news about ANY files for them. (Crap!)

Just after lunch on Wednesday, I called again, assuming that we'd been passed over for this month but needing the final word to come from them. When I asked switchboard for the coordinator, she said "It's me. We have a girl for you..." "NA, NA, NA, NA I don't want to hear this!!!!" I couldn't get the news without John being on the phone! She said she had just received the referrals and was in the process of typing up the emails. She'd send us the email soon...

Two hours later, we got the email. We were giddy, stunned and disbelieving that our 2+ year wait was almost over. We'd set up the video camera and recorded the first time we saw our daughter's face. What a moment! Happy, weepy, funny, stunned... LOVE the hair! LOVE the big eyes & rosebud mouth! It looks like she even has 2 teeth. What a cutie! We both fall for her instantly...

All we know about her is: Her name is Xin Mei JIANG and she was born on May 19, 2008. She is from Yang Jiang City, Jiang Cheng District Social Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province (just west of Hong Kong and Macau). The agency coordinator says Xin means 'trusting' and Mei means 'blossom' or 'flower' but she didn't know what the two together meant so we would have to wait for the translated documents. Her last name, Jiang, is from the city/orphanage where she currently lives. We haven't decided what Western name to give her yet and may wait for the translation before deciding.

We called our families, had them on the speaker phone, and recorded their reactions. It would have been nice to see their faces but it just wasn't possible with them living so far away. My mom started crying (expected); my dad demanded the photos asap so he could show her off to his buddies (also expected); John's mom was happy & his dad was happy then asked about his taxes (unexpected but funny). My BIL was happy & my sister just about took out one or two of her kids sprinting to the phone & computer (she's also another RQ addict!). My SS couldn't stop saying how cute she was and my SD is excited and can't wait to see the pictures tomorrow. All in all, good reactions all around!

It will be 2 more weeks until we see the translated file so we can learn more about her. We'll travel to pick her up in/by May so we'll likely be with her for her 1st birthday. THEN the hard part begins!!!

We're both very happy and very excited about this new adventure. We're also very tired from all of the anxiety. I guess we should get used to being tired!

    

Referral Photos.  LOVE the hair, big eyes and cute lips!