The Tenth

When we first adopted Juliana I thought the high point of our adoption story would be attending Christmas Mass as a family. One of the most difficult things I had ever done was to get on an airplane and fly half way around the world leaving my three daughters at home in December. As we were preparing to fly home, Juliana had a *very* high fever unlike any I'd ever seen. We'd called our pediatrician who told us to keep doing what we were doing and get her home. I was nervous and hadn't slept. Then at the airport there was a complication with our tickets and we were being held off the flight. Our group was boarding and our guide and David were trying to sort everything out, but I was left holding a sick baby girl and afraid I would miss Christmas with my girls. I broke down crying. This is frowned upon in that country and I knew I wasn't helping the situation, but I just wanted to be home. We made it on the flight, Juliana threw up all over an older woman next to me, but we made it. Then we missed a connecting flight because we were both so exhausted. Still, we got home around 8 PM Christmas Eve and I felt like a complete family. Attending Christmas morning Mass as a family with our new little one was indeed a memorable day.

Then came the day we baptized her. While I expected the joy of Christmas, I was taken aback by how much her baptism meant to me. This was the real reason we went through all the paperwork, this is why we sacrificed extra savings, this is why I was willing to walk on that airplane. Not just to add another child to our family, not just to give her the gift of an earthly family, but to give her a heavenly and eternal family. Her baptism is when we truly completed her adoption process. That day was January 10, 2009 and it was a glorious day.

One year later on that day, David and Hannah walked into another orphanage and were given our dear Joseph. It was an entrance into the world of boys and our lives were forever changed. This crazy day was the start of a busy few days as my sister waited for a heart transplant, and I was 11 months pregnant with Gabriel. I only saw Joseph over the computer that day, but again our family was growing through the blessings of adoption.

One year after that on January 10, 2011, unbeknownst to us, another little boy was born in China. I thought our adoption days were over. We had six children and I thought our family was complete. Then through a random email and a book, God revealed he had other plans. It was around that time we started a new adoption process and little Peter would join our family shortly after his first birthday.

All this on the same day in January.

Six years have passed, full of more stories of biological children and keeping up with life with all our children.

Then yesterday, January 10, 2017, once again becomes a banner day for our adoption stories as we received and accepted the file of our newest child. She is 18 months old and absolutely beautiful (we can't share pictures publicly right now). We were surprised by the call as we expected to be waiting many more months, but know God's timing can not be outdone.

This is our fourth adoption and I am again surprised by how much and how quickly you can fall in love with someone just by seeing their picture. It changes everything. Please pray for our family and our littlest daughter as we begin the process of bringing her home.