She Has Our Hearts

On Friday, October 4, 2013, I was making final preparations for Ian and Aidan's Popsicle Party.  Usually I'm at the community college teaching on Fridays, but that day was fall break so I was home.  My dear friend, Heather, and her baby girl, Margaret Ann, were helping me out that morning as I needed to finish the popsicle sign, party favors and tablecloth.

My parents had called and wanted to pick Aidan up from preschool as they usually do on Fridays when I'm teaching.  They took him out for lunch - Aidan's choice - McDonalds, of course. 

Heather, Margaret Ann and I had just been upstairs looking at the guest room and talking about how the room might be arranged as Emma's room some day.  Heather and I were discussing how I'd been so anxious over the past few weeks - I knew we were about to meet our daughter - my heart just knew. 

My parents arrived home with Aidan.  Heather, Margaret Ann, Aidan, my mom and I were all standing in the foyer watching Aidan play with and admire Margaret Ann.

There was a perfect storm brewing.  In just a moment - with chaos in the background - everything changed.

At 12:33pm, our home phone rang.

 

 

With caller ID, I knew who was calling, but I had no idea the reason.  I answered the phone, and I heard the sweet voice of our international social worker.   "We have a referral we'd like you to review.  Can I tell you a little about her?  She's 19 months old, she lives in blah-blah province, at so-and-so orphanage, she's just been made available for adoption, her special need is 'growth delay' - she's tiny and adorable." 

 

The next 11 minutes felt like an eternity until the email arrived with all the documents and a couple photos.  To look into the face of a child and know she was the daughter God intended for our family - every moment of waiting, all the months, every heartbreak - it's all worth it.  What a difference a day makes.    



Seven weeks ago, we were introduced (on paper) to our daughter.  Her name is Emma.

 

 

As I read through the documents, I found this statement, "She is a quiet little girl, has oval face, bright eyes, and cherry lips, so pretty."  And we couldn't agree more - our gorgeous daughter.

 

We recently received some updated photos from late October when a medical mission team visited her orphanage.

 



 

We have received PA (pre-approval) from China.  We are currently in the LOA (letter of acceptance) wait which could be 1-3 months.  At this point, we hope to travel in March/April.

We are thrilled to finally be able to share this news with our family and friends.

When I was reading back through the blog post I made on October 3rd, I had no idea what the next day held for us and our adoption journey.  We will celebrate Emma's referral day for many years.  One day can change everything - October 4, 2013.

Emma may not have our eyes or smile but from the very first moment she had our hearts.

While We're Waiting (9 months)

October 30, 2013     - 9 months waiting since our LID (log in date in China)
                                 - 17 months waiting since we began our adoption process
                                 - 36 months (3 years) since we began the process of adding
                                    to our family

October has been a busy month!  Birthday parties, state fair and Halloween - oh my!  I'm not sure what happened - but it's November already!!

We celebrated Ian's 8th and Aidan's 5th birthdays with a Popsicles in the Park party on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in early October. 

The boys had asked all summer to have a lemonade stand - they are their father's sons - our little entrepreneurs.  We don't really have the appropriate amount of traffic past our house to support their business ideas - so I decided we'd have a popsicle stand for their birthday party.  Just so you know, we did NOT charge the birthday party guests for their popsicles!  Our Papa and Mimi (my dad and mom) helped construct the popsicle stand and the treat cone holders.  There were a few other craft projects I completed to make the popsicle stand complete - sewing the striped table cloth and pennant banner, designing and making the popsicle sign and cutting the paper snack cones.  If you know me even a little, you know I LOVE making projects - sewing, painting, creating - I had a great time pulling together the projects to celebrate my boys and their birthdays.

 

 

Each of our party guests left with their bellies full of popsicles and a personalized cup with a few more popsicles for their own freezer.

 

 

A family that has a popsicle stand together stays together!  Wait - that's not the saying, but you get the idea.  The boys had a blast simply playing in the park and enjoying popsicles with their friends.

 

 

A McGinnis family tradition began 7 years ago just as Ian was celebrating his 1st birthday - we visit the NC State Fair.  Brian's parents lived in Raleigh when he was very young, and some of his early childhood memories include visiting the NC State Fair with his parents.  We've visited each year since 2006 - except the year Aidan was born - who wants to travel to the fair when you are 39 weeks pregnant with a 9 lb, 5 oz baby boy?  It's our fall tradition - the boys look forward to it each year - and I mean ALL the boys look forward to it each year.

 

This year I took special note of ALL the "deep fried" items available for purchase at the fair.  Wow - no wonder there's a health crisis in America!  What do you have if you consume all the deep fried sugary treats?  Diabetes, my friend, you have diabetes!  We did not enjoy any deep fried treats. 

 

 

 



 

But we enjoyed carnival rides, animal viewing, agricultural exhibits, shows and possibly the best fireworks ever.  We had a great time - and this year did NOT result in a round of E. Coli for the family - hello 2011!

 

 

 

On Halloween Eve, we participated in our church's Trunk or Treat festivities.  Wow - there were more than 1300 people who visited our church - we hope they saw Jesus through the presentation and the kindness of our church family as they passed from car to car collecting sweet treats and a free hot dog meal on their way out.  The boys really enjoyed passing out candy to all the costumed kids.

 

 

 

For Halloween, we had superheroes in our house.  Wolverine and Ironman had their photo taken - another annual tradition - by Rick Haithcox in Dallas, NC.  As an annual fundraiser for our local Hospice, Rick takes photos of children dressed in their costumes on Halloween.  He's an amazing photographer and has a way with my children - it does NOT hurt that Rick is always hopeful that the McGinnis boys will be Star Wars characters.  We won't disappoint in 2014 - I promise!