One year ago....

Exactly one year has passed since December 12, 2008, when we saw Amelia's sweet face for the first time...

When the phone rang that day, I'll never forget the way my body froze as I realized it was our social worker's telephone number showing up on caller ID and that my heart began to race like never before. I was so overcome with emotion to learn about my daughter (MY daughter!!!) who was waiting for us on the other side of the world. Knowing I would more than likely get 'the call' during the day while Jeff was at work, I had often imagined how I would surprise him with such amazing news. Should I go out and buy pink balloons to deliver to his office? Should I make a special dinner and make him try to guess the occasion? Should I have a 'Big Brother' shirt made for Graham to wear when his Daddy arrived home for the evening? All those ideas would have been great, but the shock and excitement got the better of me so I called Jeff at work and through my tears just blurted it out-"We have a daughter!!!". So much for the elaborate plan! As shocked as I was, I think Jeff was caught even more off guard. He was actually on his way to give a presentation when he saw on caller ID that it was me and decided to take the call quickly. Ummm....it wasn't a quick call!

It some ways it feels like just yesterday that the phone rang with news of our holiday miracle and in other ways it feels like we've been a family of four forever. To say that we're blessed to call Amelia our daughter is an understatement. Adoption is a miracle and we've been lucky enough to experience that miracle not once, but twice. So here we are a year later and we have our sweet princess, now 17 months old, at home with us. Amelia has the most gentle demeanor, and the sweetest little high pitched voice. She gives the best hugs and kisses and it literally melted my heart that one of the first things she learned how to say was "I love You". We love you too, Amelia, and we are so thankful that we have you in our lives!