December 6, 2007

The happiest day of our lives up to that point. I barely slept the night before knowing we should be getting the call that day. We were so excited and nervous. I was at work and I kept my cell phone next to me and kept checking it every few minutes to make sure it was on and the battery was charged. I told all my friends and family not to call me because I didn't want to take any chances of missing "the" call. The minutes were ticking by with no call. I was getting more and more nervous and antsy. I was shaking like a leaf, my heart was racing and my stomach was queasy. Finally at 11:20 a.m. my phone rang. I almost jumped out of my chair. I grabbed the phone and found I could barely speak. It was M. from our agency and she said "I have good news for you. We have your referral." All I could manage to get out was "Oh my God!" She told us our daughter's name was Sheng Xue Feng (in my nervousness and excitement I misunderstood and thought she said Seng instead of Feng), she was born on August 26, 2006 and she was in the Desheng SWI in Guangxi Province. I had my list of questions sitting next to me but I was incapable of any sort of rational thought. M. asked me what time we wanted to go in and told us we could go in any time after 1:00. I said 1:00 would be perfect. I called Roman the second I hung up and practically shouted "We have a daughter!" We met in the lobby of my building at noon to go to the agency together and we ran to each other hugged with tears streaming down both of our faces. That was a very long hour waiting for our appt at the agency. Finally, a little after 1:00 we met with M. and she showed us Michelle's pictures. We both cried again looking at this beautiful little girl who was about to become our daughter. We were completely overwhelmed and madly in love. We were looking at the daughter we had dreamed of for so long. We had to pinch ourselves to believe it was true. The rest of the day was a whirlwind. We spent the afternoon mailing out the visa applications and the referral information to the international clinic for review. Then we spent the evening making calls and sending out e-mails to our friends and family.

That was such an incredible day. I don't think I had ever experienced such pure joy in my life. I don't know how the matching room does it. Michelle really is the perfect child for us and we're the perfect family for her. We look at her every day and thank God for her. As painful as the wait was, we wouldn't change a thing. We'd gladly go through it all again to have our precious Michelle.