Seems like just yesterday that I was agonizing over the wait for our travel approval to arrive! But then again...we've come so so far in a short year!
I remember when they walked into my hotel room in Nanchang, China with the most beautiful little girl! She was shy and scared as they pushed her towards this stranger that they kept calling "mommy"! She let me hold her and sat ever so quiet....I wonder what she was thinking! I felt so bad for her, thinking how scared and confused she must have been. The orphanage workers left after about 15 minutes and we were left to build our mother/daughter relationship!
Ella quickly took to her big brother, Edward and I! I think she could feel the love. I wanted her to feel how much love I had in my heart for this little miracle I had waited so long for!
Our family was complete on the day that My Evan and Eddie arrived to join us in China....that's when my heart was complete! What a journey!
When we arrived back home Christmas eve, I knew much I had fallen in love with Ella, I just didn't realize how much everyone else would fall in love with her!
From her Aunt and Uncle who met us at the airport in Detroit during our layover, to the greeting we got at the airport in Maine...it was evident she would quickly gain many admirers! Godmother Kathi was smitten by Ella on Christmas day, and continues to be one of Ellas favorite people!
At Blue Point School in Scarborough...the staff and students opened their arms to welcome our angel. Although she didn't embrace them back at first, she now LOVES to go to school and might just be the most popular kid in the school!! The teachers have loved watching her grow into this spunky little carefree girl who loves EVERYTHING about life.
Our North Carolina family didnt meet Ella until April...they had heard plenty about this little wonder though! But, I don't think they realized how much of their hearts she would capture!
Ella has truly not just made a big impact on our lives and hearts but she has to so, so many around her!
Ella is such a happy child! I really can't say that enough! She smiles from morning to night! From just meeting our family you would never know that we have only had her for a year....she just fits with us SO perfectly! I really feel that there was only one way this could have happened! This was the work of something bigger than us! It has to have been the work of god! It's just too perfect! I prayed and prayed so much for this little girl, for my healthy family! I knew that with my faith, it would come to fruition! It was that faith that got me through those oh, so low moments.
Some people know about my relationship, or should I say...lack of relationship with my mom! My mom passed away in Feb of 2006! I would have given the world to have had a healthy, loving mother/daughter relationship with my mom. I never had that and even though I really didn't have a relationship with my mom for some time prior to her passing, I always had hopes and dreams someday I would! The day she died....that dream died! I believe last Dec 13; the day Ella's adoption took place and consequently my Mothers birthday....that dream became a reality! I now have that chance of having that relationship I had hope for throughout my life! What I didn't know was how amazing it was going to be!
I know life isn't going to always be so perfect but what I do knows that the lord has blessed me more than I probably deserve! I am so thankful for my amazing husband, my loving, crazy kids, my faithful and supportive friends, my health and most of my faith in the lord!
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