Let the Nesting Begin!!

My head is still in the clouds but reality is starting to set in. We've got a lot to do in the next 8 weeks!

1. meet with the doctor to go through Maddie's referral paperwork
2. apply for travel visas (Thank goodness I can count on Doug for this and the rest of the paperwork!)
3. clean the house from top to bottom
4. buy a crib
5. set up the nursery
6. clean out the closets (OK, I may be getting just a little too ambitious with this whole nesting thing)
7. register at Target, Burlington Coat Factory, and Amazon
8. shop (diapers, formula, list is too long to go into here)
9. baby showers
10. get absolutely everything caught up at work so that I can be out for awhile
11. I could go on and on, but I'm freaking myself out seeing all of this in black and white!

Now that things have settled down, here are a few more details from the day we got the referral. Doug was in North Carolina visiting his dad when we got the call. Our adoption coordinator pulled us together in a phone conference to give us the news. While we would really have liked to have been together for the special event, it was nice that he got to share that moment with his dad. He does not get to see him very often.

By the time we received the email with the photos a few hours later, Doug was at the airport getting ready to fly back to Atlanta. We had agreed to wait to open the email until we could do so together - over the phone. I have never seen or heard my husband at a loss for words, but when we both saw those photos for the first time, I heard him gasp and then nothing... he was speechless!! He later told me that at that moment it hit him like a ton of bricks, "From now on, absolutely everything I do is for that little girl." He's going to be a wonderful daddy!

Of course, I was an emotional wreck. I was at work, in my office with the door shut, trying to be discreet. But my team informed me that they could hear me... crying, laughing, squealing, etc. etc. Needless to say, even though I was at work I didn't get any actual work done the rest of the day on Monday!

Here are a few more details that we learned when the stork (in the form of FedEx) dropped off our paperwork yesterday. Madeline's name, Yi Xiao Li means Morning Jasmine Flower. I suggested that maybe we should just name her Jasmine. But Doug and I both agreed that Jasmine Snow sounds too much like a stripper name... not gonna happen!! LOL

The Eliases and we were both matched with our daughters by the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) on Christmas Day!!! What a beautiful Christmas present! For the past four Christmases, Doug and I have agreed not to buy each other Christmas presents and instead save that money for our adoption fund. Never once did I imagine that it would play out like this.

We ask for continued prayers from you, our family and friends. Over the next few months Maddie will be going through immense grief. This article helped me to understand a little better what she will be experiencing: http://www.a4everfamily.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=53&Itemid=120.