One Year Later

I am so full of joy as I sit here and begin this post. One year ago today the Lord gave us our youngest precious child. Jeremy and I hardly slept much the night before. Our temporary home was the Mandarin Garden Hotel in Nanjing, Jiangsu China. The hard beds were not even a thought to us that night.

We arrived early at the Civil Affairs Office in anticipation of our meeting. We were told that the bullet train was running late. We waited what seemed like an eternity. 

Then we saw her for the very first time with our own eyes!

This day is often referred to as Gotcha Day. Our hearts were bursting. We were almost unable to contain ourselves. Jeremy paced the floor. 

When the nanny handed our sweet lovely daughter to us, it was not quite what we had expected. 

Mariah had absolutely no idea what was happening. It broke our hearts. She sobbed. My dad got that first half-hour on video. It is hard to watch. It was the first time this baby girl had experienced the love of a family, and she hated it. 

She grieved. We prayed she would not, yet she certainly did. We were emotionally and physically exhausted. She cried almost the entire first day we had her. She did finally fall asleep in my arms for a nap because she wore herself out.

I gave her what may have been her first tub bath. She hated that as well! Sleep finally came. We laid her in the crib and she never moved all night.

She slept all night without even a peep. I put her in bed with us in the early morning. We were shocked when we were getting ready and Jeremy pointed out to me that we have a thumb-sucker!

I, especially, worked hard. Not that Jeremy did not but Mariah began to reject me. She did not want me anywhere near. She cried for Jeremy to hold her. It took many months of consistency for me to prove to her that I was here to stay. 

One evening while rocking her before bed she looked at me and put her chubby little hand on my chest and said, "Mama". That was the first time she really put it together. When we received her, she called everyone mama. It must have been what she called the nannies. This night was different.

We went through many "firsts" with this one. I treasure that God allowed us to experience those moments with her.

Here are a few of the "firsts" we watched:

*first time to have siblings
*first rain and playing in that rain on our deck
*first time in a high chair
*first time in church
*first time eating a variety of food
*first time in a car
*first time in a car seat
*first blankie (made with much love by Aunt Tina)
*first time walking barefoot in the grass
*first birthday celebration
*first Christmas
*first time sledding
*first wardrobe of her own
*first surgery and hospital stay
*first time swimming
*first Sunday school class
*first pair of glasses

There are many more that I will spare you from reading.

This Gotcha Day anniversary fell on the week that Jeremy and Kyle traveled to Mexico for a mission trip. I wanted to share a few things about our day today. It was a normal day here. I actually babysat a very good friend's little boy. It was neat for me to see Mariah possessive of me. That is healthy! 

We seem to have a future acrobat! How can she sit like this?

Since we are a an abbreviated family for the next couple of days, I just wanted to make our day simple. Mariah was desperate to swim tonight. Rebecca was so sweet to offer to watch her in the pool so I could take pictures!

What a difference this past year has made in her life!

What a bigger difference this past year has made in my life! God has taught me so much through Mariah. He has taught me that being a mom to Mariah is very much the same, yet entirely different than being a mom to our other four children. 

So many people will comment that we saved her. Honestly, we feel that in a way the Lord, through Mariah, saved us. She has helped us to see beyond ourselves. She helped us to love even more with reckless abandon. She has shown us a fraction of how our God loves us. We have experienced so much joy this past year. 

The joy seems so sweet after the difficult process of adoption and waiting. I love all of our children equally. They all bring so much joy. I wanted to just dedicate this particular post to the newest member of our family.

Our family number has increased and will increase again this year, Lord willing! We are excited as we build our family through this miracle of adoption. 

Thank you all for your support and sweet encouragement. We are a blessed family for sure.