It was a Beautiful and Glorious day on January 1, 2013, as we were finally able to begin a new year as a family of three. We will always remember 2012 as our 6th & final year of our wait to receive the referral of our precious daughter from China. In May of last year we received the call & email of our lifetime, which included details and three photos of our little Ning Xing Yao from Ningdu County, Jiangxi, China. With only a few details about her, they were enough for us to fall completely in Love with this little girl who had just turned 1 at the time. We just could not wait to meet her, and experience the miracle of becoming a family through adoption. Then about 6 months later we were able to take the trip of our lifetime, halfway around the world, to meet our daughter for the first time. What a miraculous day it was! We will forever cherish those days in China & look forward to posting more photos of our trip here on the blog since we were not able to do so as much while we were there. It was a very difficult transition for all of us at first, as our dear little one was grieving the life she was leaving behind.
Today, as we reflect on our journey, we are Thankful to all of our friends & family & sometimes even strangers, who were supportive of our very long wait & who celebrated right along with us, on this amazing experience! It has meant so much to us to have these special people express their genuine love and support always, especially during the times we felt like our wait would never end. There were many times where it was just so emotionally overwhelming for us....but there were always angels around us who would scoop us right up and recharge our spirits and give us the strength we needed to be patient.
Secondly, we will forever be Thankful to the foster family in China who raised Madeline, loved and kept her safe during her first year of her life. She is a very sweet, and loving little girl, whose very observant, intelligent, and fully capable of accomplishing great things in her life. We are so lucky to be able to experience her development in life right beside her, as her new forever parents.
We are also Thankful to China for making our match and allowing us to bring our daughter home, and also Thankful to the US for granting her full Citizenship.
But most importantly, we are Thankful to GOD for allowing all of this to happen! There is no doubt in our minds that our little Madeline was meant exclusively for us! All those years of waiting....especially during the holidays were so difficult for us. But somehow, we held on to the only two things we could ( despite all the challenges we faced, whether financially, or emotionally, or physically )...& those things were Hope & Faith!
Happy New Year's to All & may you also and always hold on to Hope & Faith, to make all of your dreams possible!
photo by Ryan Beck
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