Our daughter...

I (Beth-Anne) was texting with my cousin Brianna the early afternoon of my birthday, February 20--Monday. 

Brianna: Happpppy birthday!!!! .... I hope it's been fabulous!
Beth-Anne: So far it has been great! Praying for a phone call from CCAI today
Brianna: Yes! :)

But honestly, I didn't believe it. Of course I wanted them to call. But I always want CCAI to call.  Every day.

At 4:30 pm we were waiting for my mom to come so we could have dinner to celebrate my birthday when my phone rang.  It said: Denver, CO.  And I hand a moment of disbelief.  Could this be CCAI?

So I grabbed the phone and headed into Yin's bedroom. 

Shanley: Hello, is this Beth-Anne? This is Shanley from CCAI.
Me: Yes. Hello.
Shanley: I was just calling to follow up on those files you asked about from the other agency.

At this point I felt that let-down that comes when you are hopeful and it is too good to be true. Of course, they weren't calling about a match on my birthday.

Shanley and I talked for a few minutes where I explained that nothing had happened with any of the other files.

Shanley: So you aren't pursuing any of those files?
Me: No.
Shanley: Well in that case... (She paused and my heart lifted in hope!) We have the file of a little girl.
Me: Really? (I felt in my voice the disbelief and joy and tears.)
Shanley: Yes!

Shanley then went on to describe this beautiful little girl who was 11 months old and described her special needs and asked if we would like to look at her file. 

I said yes!  Then I went out to where Matthew was and said, "Matthew!  Matthew!"  "What?" he said.  "They called! We have a girl!" 

I don't remember all the words we said next but we jumped and laughed and started refreshing my email every second for the email to come through. 

Then my mom arrived and when she got to the door we jerked the door open and both screamed, "They called!!"  Almost immediately she said, "Really?!?!"  and then we all screamed and jumped together--then Edmund started to cry because we scared him, so we stopped.

Then we all went to the phone and refreshed and refreshed.  Then.  There it was.  I passed all the documents and went straight to the pictures. 

There she was.  Big expressive eyes.  Tiny perfect mouth.  Our daughter.  I was in shock, in love, in awe of God.  Then we watched the one video they had of her and I broke down weeping.  I wept for all that this moment was.  For who God has been in this whole process: Emmanuel--God with us.  Even though I couldn't always see the process, He was with us and I could feel that.  I knew that.  And in this moment, this extraordinary call on my birthday there He was: Emmanuel. 

"She's beautiful."  I don't know who said it first.  Maybe my mama?  But we could all see it.  She was ours. 

As I knelt next to Edmund to show him sister I looked at one of the pictures more closely, seeing the background.  I gasped.  "She's...she's...." I couldn't speak, and started crying again. 

 What?! Both Mama and Matthew wanted to know.

But I couldn't speak it out because it was another prayer we had prayed answered.  I could see in the picture our daughter was at Maria's Big House of Hope--the home that Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth Chapman built to honor their daughter Maria.  This amazing organization is one of the very best places for a child to be. The rooms are clean, beautiful, spacious, and the staff is great. 

From the very beginning of the adoption process I had hoped that we would get a little girl who had been at Maria's.  That's how we even found our adoption agency, we wanted the one that worked with Maria's Big House of Hope.  Again, amazing.  Emmanuel.  God with us.

I had a feeling that I couldn't shake for a while that our daughter would be younger than I imagined (we had 0-24 months on our medical checklist) and then there she was.  Not even one year old.  She turns one next week.  This precious girl of our heart. 

A year ago today 2/24/16 we were logged into the system (LID), which allowed us to adopt from China.  Today 2/24/17 we got our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China saying that they accept us as our daughter's adoptive parents.

There is more to tell, but for now we will leave you with this.

God has been with us.  Emmanuel. 

So her first name is Emma.  Short for Emmanuel: God with us.

Best birthday ever. (Pink bunny for our daughter, Emma.)