Okay where do I start?? I am just not a writer and I have so many feelings about that day and I don't even know how to write them down to capture how I/we were feeling that day?
First of all we found out Tuesday, March 27th that we were in and that the packages had been mailed from China, we found out on the Thursday afternoon that our package had landed in our agencies office and that it was on its way to translation. This was a huge relief because you just never know if you get skipped or if you actually had a different lid etc.. We were told that we wouldn't get any information until the following week maybe Tues or Wed. This was so hard because I knew that the girls at the agency had seen our baby and knew how old etc... and we knew nothing. Monday came and I soooo badly wanted to call my agency but I held off. Later that morning I had to email them about something so I asked at the end of my email "do you think we will hear anything today?" They emailed back and said that the file was back from translation but they were waiting on one small detail that translation did not give them....UGH...okay now it is killing me...LOL. They told me they would get it that night from China and call us tomorrow. AAAHHHHH tomorrow - after 6+ years we were finally going to know who are little girl was, we were going to put a face to the name we have been saying for 5+ years, we were finally going to see her little face, know where she was living, know when she was born - I couldn't believe it....FINALLY TOMORROW!!!!
Tuesday morning - April 3rd, we both got up and headed to work, we had no idea what time they would call so we figured we would head to work until we got
"The Call". Around 9:30am I went up to the front desk to cover for Cathy while she ran downstairs. I was up there for less than 2 minutes and I saw a call coming in from my phone - OMG my heart dropped and I picked it up - it was Darlene from the agency, our conversation went like this...
Tammy - "Is everything okay? do you have all of our information?"
Darlene - "yes I have everything here and I can tell you when you are ready"
Tammy - "OMG I can't believe it - I am going to call Mike and we are going to head right home and we will call you in less than an hour"
Darlene - "okay sounds great"
Tammy - "have you called our other group member yet?"
Darlene - "No of course I called you first, lol"
Tammy - "okay OMG I am so excited"
Darlene - "Yes I think you are going to be very surprised!"
Tammy - "Okay I am going to go get Mike we will call you soon"
I immediately called Kimberly and told her I got the call, I think she was running up to the front before I even had a chance to hang up the phone,
"Go, Go, she said - I will cover" I headed to my desk, told my boss I got the call and was heading home (of course I was shaking and half crying at this point). I tried to call Mike at his desk-no answer, his cell-no answer,
"are you kidding me" tried his desk again-no answer so I pushed "0" and got put through to a lady in his office. Well after a small search they came back to tell me he was in the washroom,
"seriously, you have got to be kidding me" I said can someone go and knock on the door and have him call me immediately!
So I sat at my desk waiting, by this point Kimberly and a couple of other friends were gathered around my desk as we all sat waiting for Mike to finish in the bathroom and call me back LOL. Then the phone rang, I told him to head home
"It was time!!"On the way home I had a million thoughts running through my head - first of all what did Darlene mean "you are going to be surprised?" was this a good thing? I know Darlene was well aware of my feelings bout a baby as young as possible and how badly we wanted that - especially for her to be here before her first birthday - so was that it?? Is that what she meant?? Oh I was just sooo excited - I can't even put into words all the thoughts, hopes, fears et... going through my mind, it was amazing!!
So I arrived home first, set up the video camera, got out our "call" sheets to fill out. Mike arrived, he put on his "China" shirt and we were ready!! We started the video camera and dialed the phone number...Darlene answered and we both said hello - all of a sudden the phone went dead. We were sitting there saying "hello" "hello" and nothing. Darlene's work line had died LOL we tried calling her back but it was busy so we waited - meanwhile I thought I would rewind the tape and re-start - well of course as I am rewinding the phone rings and it is her. I was so frazzled that I was trying to push record and I had no idea what I was doing. We had her on speaker and before I could get everything set she says "You have a daughter" I was yelling "wait, wait" "I am trying to record" LOL I was a mess LOL Anyways I got it working and the call continued...
She repeated for us "you have a daughter" AMAZING - I felt pretty positive that this was the case but you just never know?? When Darlene had said "you are going to be surprised" earlier it got me thinking LOL I was not crying but I seriously couldn't even read he words on my call sheet, I kept looking for all the blanks to fill in and I couldn't even comprehend what I was reading.
She then said her birthday - September 3rd, 2011 - and I wanted to start bawling (I think I did a little) - it is exactly what I had always wanted and I couldn't believe it!! Before I left work that day I said to my friend "I just want her birthday to be Aug or Sep't" and it was!!! Right in between Mike and I and most importantly she was only 7 months old!!! 7 months that day! I really, really wanted her home before her first birthday and it was a reality now!!
Darlene went on to tell us all about her and the details etc.. She went on and on about how beautiful she was and how we were just going to think so is soooo beautiful. To be honest I was excited to hear those words but I thought we will see, sometimes those little pics they take are so not flattering, I wouldn't want to be judged on one little passport like photo LOL. After the call she said it would be about 20 minutes for the pics to be emailed!
Mike and I were just soooooo happy and soooo relieved and so excited etc... I/we cried it was just the most amazing feeling in the world - we were parents FINALLY and she was everything we had prayed for! About an hour later we finally got the pictures and I was soooo nervous - I don't know why? I/we started reading the email and thought what the heck are we doing and started frantically scrolling to the bottom to the pics - as soon as we hit the first picture I started to cry - she was SOOOOOO CUTE!! I looked at her and said to Mike "OMG she is soooo cute, (still scrolling) and she has matching socks!" LOL Over the last couple of months I have seen so many referral pics with crazy not matched socks and I always joke "what is with the socks?" Well not my girl, she had matching socks! it was a match made in heaven and love at first sight!! Mike and I just couldn't stop staring at her!
We could not believe that everything worked out exactly how we had always wanted it to - it was a very hard 6 years with alot of good and bad and ups and downs and every single second was worth it once we knew who she was and saw her little face! I know people have said that for years to us and it is honestly kind of annoying lol but it is soooooo true - once you see her and know she is yours all the bad stuff and miserableness of 6+ years of waiting etc... just disappears and it is soooo worth it!
I can't even begin to tell you how much we love her already and how we just can't wait to get her and bring her home, finally our lives can begin as a family of 3!!!
The first person I called was my mom - her and m dad were at Lowes and she answered her cell - I couldn't live it! she said "sooo?" ad told her - I don't know if she was crying or not but I was lol. I know she was just soooo happy that she was exactly what we wanted and that she was so young. They were on their way down to our house lol! I called Kimberly and sent her the pic, I called my cousins and sent them pics too - it was just the most amazing feeling!
When my parents got to our house they had a beautiful plant and cute gift for Mhyia(so sweet)...I just couldn't wait to show them her pic - they 100% agreed she was a cutie!!! We headed right to Walmart to make multiple copies to give out/show off! Mike had to go back to work and didn't want to tell his family until Good Friday (3 days) when they were all coming over for dinner. I didn't think that would last but I left it up to him! Later that day when he got home we called a few more friends etc... and then it got the better of him and we called the family one by one - we were still going to say the pic for Good Friday but it was soooo exciting to tell them our amazing news - we were just sooooo happy!
Truly one of the best days of our lives....so far!!
