One year since "The Call!"

One year ago today was one of the happiest days of our lives. Part of our adventure to parenthood ended (the wait to know who our child would be) and another chapter (the wait for TA and travel) began. Motherhood has been cruel to my memory, but there are some parts of November 30, 2006 that I will never forget!

We'd been on pins and needles since mid-October wondering if we'd make the late October/early November referral cut off ~ we didn't. But on November 2nd the CCAA's site stated that they had processed referrals up to August 25, 2005 and we were August 26. We knew we were in the next batch, but when would it come? So that morning I checked the CCAA site before I headed for preschool, just for grins.

I almost spit out my coffee when I saw that they had processed through early September of 2005. We were in!!! So I did what any mother who'd been waiting for word from China for 15 months would do, I emailed Laurel (our family coordinator) and asked her to wait to call us until after 2 so that Ian and I could answer the phone together.

Somehow I managed to focus on my 2 year olds at school that day but must have looked at the clock 1000 times! I raced out of preschool (mumbling some excuse about critical paperwork) and was home by 1:30. The phone rang several tantalizing times before the time I answered it and heard Laurel's voice on the other end saying, "Hi Kristi, this is Laurel from AWAA. Is Ian there?"

My brain turned to mush as she began to give us details...
"Lian Bao Zhen...
born on March 10, 2006...
currently residing in Lianjiang SWI in Lianjiang, Guangdong Province...
measurements taken on August (and I had to ask how to spell August because my brain was racing so fast) 18th were 22 inches long and 17 pounds...
she's wearing a blue sleeveless onesie and she's really, really cute"

And then our poor, poor dog thought we were insane as we hung up the phones, ran into each other's arms, jumped up and down while spinning in circles, and cried.

Next came about an hour of frantic Internet research as we found out what we could of the Guangdong Province and found pictures of her SWI.

Then we thought, "Hmm, guess we should call our moms!" And then the phone calls began ~ Moms, my sister, Ian's dad, aunts, cousins, close friends that prayed us through the wait...

We ended the night by going to SoHo Cafe for dinner where Ian's fortune cookie said something like, "Now is the time to share your good news with friends and family," and mine said something about "You will receive unexpected support in the coming weeks." From there we went to Babies R Us and registered because my sister had everything but the shower date on invitations ready to be mailed...

Now I'm wondering how good my memory was. Check here, here, here, here and here for links to check up on me.

Wow how the one year has flown! Now we are gearing up for our first Christmas as a family of three and Kylie just opened her first Christmas gift ~ an ornament from Lianjiang sister Caroline.

"If I pull both of these will it open?"

What a year it's been!!!