TWO YEARS!!!

Two years ago today a little girl walked into our arms, and our lives were forever changed!!!

I will never forget the first time I saw her.  As soon as the car pulled up to the building I started searching everywhere for her, and then I saw her walking up.  I had known this girl as my daughter through nothing more than a few pictures for OVER A YEAR, and for many months before that I had looked at her picture daily praying for her to find a family.  All those many, many months of dreaming of my daughter, and finally there she was in person!  I tried to hold myself together for her sake, but once I picked her up the held-up emotions of so many months of waiting burst through and the tears began to flow.  Poor little girl didn't know what to think!

Our first days together were tough.  She grieved terribly.  She cried.  She was inconsolable.  She tried leaving and would even try to escape in the middle of the night (thankfully the sound of the door opening always woke me).  However, before we even left China she had attached to us, and within just a month it was as if she had always been with us.

We had planned to adopt a baby from China, but as always God's plans are so much better than our own.  We knew this little girl needed a family, and we knew even though we had wanted a baby we could love her just as much as a baby.  I am ever so glad that I was willing to give up my dream of adopting a baby girl from China to accept the blessing of adopting a preschooler instead.  It didn't take long to realize just how perfectly this little girl fit into our family!  Micaelyn has filled our hearts with great love, our lives with great happiness, and our home with great humor.

Happy Forever Family Day, sweet daughter!  We are so very blessed and honored to be your parents!  We love you!

Our first glimpse.  Love at first sight!

Daddy's first time holding her.

First evening with her back at the hotel.  Poor little angel was so sad.  :(  But she did like all her pretty new clothes and jewelry I had brought, and she liked it when I painted her nails.  :)

Caleb tried to make her feel better when she went to bed.

Up bright and early the next morning, bag packed and ready to leave.  Notice she is holding a shoe.  She really liked her new shoes I had brought so she put them on but still felt the need to take her others with her.  However, she could only get one to fit in her backpack so she resorted to carrying the other.

Her first smiles with us!  It was such a good thing we had taken Caleb and Malachi with us because they were the ones who got her laughing and playing.  She had a lot of fun with them!

Happily settled in to her new life.  Hair all grown out.  Showing off her new smile (before her tongue reduction surgery her smile was very open-mouthed with a lot of tongue showing).  Loving life with her new family in America, but still a Chinese princess, loves her Chinese clothes and Chinese food, and still a pro with her chopsticks!