One year down!

As of yesterday (when we were on the road coming home from Thanksgiving at Mimi and Papa Jacques') we have been officially waiting for our little girl from China for ONE YEAR!! It's kind of like a celebration in some ways - one year down, but who knows how long to go?
The past few months have been more of a downer than an up swing. Thoughts of other countries and special needs route have been considered. The quilt squares lay idly in a box, no mention of names and we no longer say "next year when we have Mei-mei". We are trying to accept that it will most likely not be next year, but instead 2009. It was hard to swallow when Alexia's Sunday school teacher told us she had prayed a sweet prayer that her sister would come soon. Still I had a recent reminder of what we are in this for.
The other night Caleb had brought to me the adoption storybook Shaoey and Dot to read. It's a cute little story about a ladybug that happens upon an abandoned little baby in China and vows to never leave her. The ladybug follows the little girl on her journey to her adopted family.
To give a personal background about this book, the first time I read this, I was on vacation and in a bookstore with adoption not in our future anywhere. As I read it, I started bawling. I don't mean a tear or two, I gushed. There is a part where the ladybug friend talks to the little baby girl and explains this as she is about to be adopted into a family
"There's a cry that's the saddest of all.
In fact it's unlike any other.
It comes from a deep, empty place in your heart
That can only be filled by a mother
And after today, I will never again
Hear that sad song coming from you
You're getting adopted, you're getting a mother,
And you're getting a family too!"

As I read this to my children, I was once again crying reminded why we want to adopt. We want to give a little girl a home and a family that loves her. There are too many children in the world without loving arms to hold and comfort them. We can't wait to welcome her into ours!!