Three years ago today...

(blog entry written by mommy and daddy)

...we received the phone call that changed our lives. It was April 9, 2007 and it had been 2 years, 2 months and 2 days since we had started our journey into adopting a child from China. The waiting time from getting "logged in" offically in China had stretched to an agonizing 18 months, a far cry from the 6 months we were initially told was the average wait. So, as our wait kept extending, we really almost thought it would never happen. It was a typical weekday, Paul at the office 30 minutes away and Cindy in her home office, both of us busy with meetings, conference calls and deadlines. The home phone rang right around 12 noon, and Cindy was on a conference call in her office, making a presentation. When the phone rang, she thought, "this is it!". Though presenting to a company head honcho, she said "please hold!" and put the phone on mute. She picked up the home phone and Meg, the agency social worker, said, "Hi Cindy - I've got good news!". Cindy can't quite remember the sequence of things after that, but she somehow was able to hand off the rest of the presentation to her boss and take down some sketchy information from Meg.

"17 months old"

"I don't know how to pronounce her name but it's spelled S-H-E Z-H-I H-U-I"

"She's in the Hunan Province"

"They say she's healthy"

"We're still translating the records but we'll send in the next day or so"

"Pictures and some info coming in email later today"

When Paul got home that day, together we anxiously awaited the email to arrive.

When it arrived, we nervously opened the email and picture documents. We couldn't believe that a heart could feel so full when we looked at this picture of Hui-Hui...............

That day started a whirlwind of activity for the next few weeks, getting medical assessments, signing and returning official papers to China, preparing a care package to send to Hui-Hui and her caregivers, and preparing the mother-of-all packing lists for our trip to China.

Three years later, it feels like it's gone in a couple blinks of the eye. It's certainly a reminder to us to enjoy each day and experience, including the challenging ones, as it will all go so quickly. We love our Hui-Hui and are still in awe of this thing called destiny. This forever family was meant to be.

We're closing this post with some very recent pictures of Hui-Hui so you can see what a beautiful, inquisitive and fun-loving person she continues to be and how her smile can light up a room and your heart.

....artistic too!


We love you so much, Hui-Hui. Big hugs.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy