1st Anniversary of Lauren's referrral

I can't believe we first saw Laurens face 1 year ago. It feels like just yesterday. I had planned on posting yesterday as that is our official referral date. The power outage made it a little tough.

Our girl 1 year later

Her face is so sweet and so beautiful. She was just 7 weeks old when we saw her picture.

I had high hopes that we would receive a referral in February. I originally thought that we would be matched the previous summer. Then our original agency unexpectedly closed, at the end of July 2008, via email ( even that I got second hand) and then we had to wait to see which agency would be picking us up. August came and went. Finally in September we were fortunate to become a Gladney family, however we still had to wait even longer. As out new agency got up to speed and build a good repore with our Taiwan agency, September and October went by. A few referrals started making their way to our agency but not for us as November, December and January crawled by. I new we were getting close in February. Although February is the shortest month on the calender everyday felt like a week. The closer we got to finding Lauren the harder it got to wait. I know that sounds crazy and I thought it was kind of crazy when other people talked about it. Once I was living it I totally got it. The end of the waiting is the HARDEST to take. We waited out Chinese New Year and finally at the end of February our agency began to receive a few referrals. I thought we would be next but we were not. The lovely Tessa found her family as well as the handsome Po Chun. At the end of the week I still had not heard anything. By Friday at noon I was heartbroken to think that we would not see our babies face again this month. As a consolation to the boys we got ready to head out to Chuck 3 Cheese.

As we started to pack up to head out the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw private caller. I was again deflated. I was so hoping i would see out agencies name. a minute later my cell phone rang as a private caller as well. To my surprise it was our case worker Lindsay and it was the call we had been longing for for so long. She was not in the office but wanted to tell me about our referral. She told us her birthday and that she was the most beautiful baby she had seen. She told me she was emailing me 3 pictures, a short video and all the other background/medical info.

I got off the phone and quickly brought the boys to the computer. We were all so excited to finally see who our girl was. We waited for the email and then we all saw her face for the very first time together. She was so sweet and beautiful. What an exciting moment to share for us to share together.


The phone call

Josh and Matt seeing their sister for the first time.

We feel blessed to have Lauren in our lives. I am such a lucky mommy. I have 3 amazing boys and the sweetest little girl. 1 year later and we are all completely in love with Lauren. She is an amazing addition to our family. She brings light and sparkle to everything. Happy Referral Day baby girl.