1 Year Ago Today

This photo is of Katie now. I tried to post a shot of Katie "then" (our referral picture), but Blogger is not cooperating. Her hair isn't down that much because it gets wild and I love her in pigtails, but she is the cutest thing I've seen either way! (A little mommy bias there.)

We became parents again. On December 8 at approximately 10:00 a.m. we got "the call" all adoptive parents wait for. It was our social worker, Carol, with our referral information. (I have to tell you that as I type this, I am starting to cry because the memory of that day is so special to me.) I knew our referrals were "in" and that we would be getting the call because other, larger agencies had gotten the word out that they were headed to the US. (Contacts in China at other agencies often know when the documents are sent.) Parents in Europe had gotten their calls already, too, since they received the packages earlier than the U.S.

So the phone rings. It was earlier than I thought. I pride myself on knowing what to expect in situations like this, and I had "heard" from previous Lifelink parents that the calls usually start about 10:30 am. So I wasn't ready yet. Somehow, Brad and I both got on the phone and Carol shared with us the basic information about Katie. Her Chinese name, age, orphanage location, size and basic personality information. We saw her photo the next day at Panera, along with our friends the Rainey's and Calhoun's who also became parents (again for the Calhoun's) that day. When we got off the phone with Carol, we immediately called our parents to share the good news. I was crying so hard my dad didn't know who it was. I had experienced so many emotions on our journey to become parents again, but that day was pure joy in the truest sense of the word. And when Carol showed us her photo the next day, I knew. I never really believed the people who said this, but I knew that was my daughter. Somehow, she was born in China to another woman, but she was my child. And that truth can be substantiated by Brad. Why, practically every day he says,"Katie, you are your mother's daughter." I won't go into details about the context of those conversations, but suffice it to say both Katie and I know what we want and strive to get it.

So here we are, a year later. Contemplating adding another child to our house because the two we've got are just so darn terrific to parent. This will be a special Christmas for us. Last year we sent a box to Suichuan Social Welfare Institute with a stuffed panda bear, a photo album of our family and all hope for the future that we had. It went to a little girl who never had a mother, but now did...just thousands of miles away. That was our Christmas present to Katie. That was all we could do. Now she is like a gift to us ever day.

A friend shared this story with me earlier today, and I think it is touching.
A young man was walking along the shore and came upon an old man throwing beached starfish back into the sea, one by one. He said "Why do you bother doing that? You can't save them all." The old man threw another in and said "But I just made a difference to that one."

While I always say that as much as people say we've "saved" Katie, she really saved us. We needed her more. Now, we're okay as a family of four. But we have a lot and there are a lot of children out there with nothing. We just might try to make a difference one more time.