An emotional day….

….I'm not sure if I'm totally calm yet, but slowly I'm starting to get there (and of course just as I feel calm about this step, the worries quickly set in for the next)…..there are a few more hurdles still but the 16 was signed and now the paperwork moves back to Canada.

This has been an unusual unofficial referral but one that has felt more right than the other two.  When all was said and done, I kept hanging on to the one thought that the right child who needed us would be put into our lives and into our family. That happened in mid-May of this year….and the last 5 weeks our files were being matched in Viet Nam.  She was paper ready and now it was our turn. The 16 took its own twists and turns, but this morning I got the best email ever, letting me know it was signed and released! What a feeling….

…as it was Canada day we had planned to head downtown for a bit.  It was a grey day with rain off and on and small bursts of sunshine.  I was very emotional and was glad for the rain as it covered the tears that I was shedding.  My tears were both for sadness and joy.   I cried for Malio and I cried for the other little girl and for all the children who find themselves hoping for families. Then I cried for my daughter. She is our little miracle because there definitely was a Force bigger than all of us that brought us together.

….and if all goes well with the 17 in Toronto, then we are still hoping to travel by the end of July to finalize the adoption.  She is in the south so we will head back to HCMC.

…to tell you a little bit about her….I will name her Malia (after my mother) and am still deciding about her middle name(s).  She will turn 3 in October but is very small but considering what she has gone through is doing really well!  I am anxious to get her home and pray that the next steps in the process are smooth though these past few months have been anything but. So I will hope for the best but be open to things going wrong.  The roller coaster ride is continuing but with the official 16 being signed I am starting to see the off ramp on this ride.

…Matteo is anxious to have his sister home too and he is so ready for her and to be a big brother.  When I told him about Malia, the first thing he said was "I knew it, a sister."….so if you recall that drawing he did, I have reposted it here, with the dragonflies, so a little girl was out there waiting for us and it seems both of our roads took different turns away from each other but now we are connected and are on the same path.

Here's to dreams being realized!