One year and 10,000 reasons!

I can't believe it has been one year since we met Mei Mei!  I keep thinking about where we were a year ago--Nanning, China.  Crazy!

The experience was totally different from the Noodle's--I guess that's true of any delivery, though.  A whole bunch of families from different agencies and even different countries were all milling around the Civil Affairs office...waiting.

There was a smaller room next to the big one where all the nannies and children were waiting.  The door was open, so families kept going and peeking in.  Such excitment!!

I remember having the same initial fear that I had with the Noodle--what if I don't recognize her? How pathetic would that be?!  Thankfully we had recently received some updated photos, so I was pretty sure I would, but still.  I was also really afraid that Mei Mei would have gotten a new "haircut" like the Noodle did and come to us with it buzzed.  Thankfully she didn't!

We were the last family to be called and by that time, the anticipation was killing us!  She walked out slowly, holding the hand of her nanny, but came right over to me and was curious.  After we got to know her, we realized that she was pretty nervous because she kept sticking out her tongue and licking her bottom lip.  She did that a lot while we were in China and was feeling uncertain or fearful (good news:  she hasn't done that here in months and months!).

She also had been given a piece of candy at some point in time and she pretty much clutched it for the rest of the day.

After the paperwork at the Civil Affairs office was finished, we went back to the hotel of the other family with which we were traveling and signed some more papers.  It was only then that we were able to go to our hotel and crash.  After a little bit of playing, a light dinner, some tears but also giggles and smiles, we all tumbled into bed, exhausted.

The magnitude of God's goodness and his amazing plan for our family of 3 and a little orphan still makes me catch my breath.  There really are 10,000 reasons for my heart to sing!