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So that is our news in a nutshell, Lily has a baby sister!

Now if you have the time, get yourselves comfy and I will give you the long version cos I have been quiet for so long I have loads to tell.

Shortly we after we logged in for our second adoption we started peeking at the waiting child lists. We fell in love with a little girl, we requested her information from our agency and took her all over town seeking out medical opinions. Her medical needs were complex, but oh how we loved her. We knew deep down inside that we were not the right family for her. So as we mailed her back to WACAP I sealed the envelope with my tears, tears that wouldn't stop. We were hurt, raw and vowed to never do that to ourselves again. We never mentioned any of it to Lily. I still see that little face everyday in my head but it helps to know she has her forever family now.

Many many months zoomed by and 3 weeks ago I said to Jacob on a Friday morning, "I think we need to look at the SN lists again". He agreed. Many of our personal friends have gone this route and they have the most beautiful children and each journey has touched us so very much. One story very recently touched me so much I cried their whole trip. Then there are our friends Marc and Lori who have just bought home their beautiful son. I shouldn't really point out certain families cos there are so many blogs I have seen lately that have moved me. That evening we received an email from our coordinator letting us know that they were about to receive a new waiting child list and if we were interested to let her know. Hmmmm, that is odd we were just talking about it. I emailed back and told her we were. The following week she rang me to see what needs we were interested in. I told her and we chatted for ages. 2 days later she rang to tell us about a little girl who had a heart condition. I said, "send her".

Her profile arrived the day before Thanksgiving. I opened the package and there was our daughter, I just knew it and when Jacob saw her he knew it. So cute it was ridiculous. I rang Jacob, I rang the pediatrician, I rang a few surgeon friends of mine and the wheels started to turn. Then it was Thanksgiving and everyone took a long weekend.....zoinks. We hid her photos in my desk because we knew if we kept looking at her we would grow attached and we needed the facts on her cute little self before we dared to let down our guard. Did I mention how cute she is? Thankfully Andie was with us and she is an ICU nurse so between the 2 of us we were able to decipher some of the records. I am also thankful she was here cos we were able to share it all with her.

The first Dr's visit ended like this, Go for it, she will be fine this is a non issue. Then we went to the second DR and he told us the same story. Even DR Google concurred. We visited more Dr.s and finally wound up with an appointment to see the head of cardiology at our local pediatric hospital. He explained everything and we left there knowing that all that was left was for us to do was ring our agency and tell them yes.

But not so fast cos every good story has a plot. Our agency gives waiting families the first look at all their new SN lists. They send 2 or 3 profiles to each family and if more than one family is interested it comes down to LID and resource plan. We had to fill out 11 questions to show that we knew what we were getting in to. 11 measly questions...that would never work. I put together a package for them and once we left the last Dr's office we went straight to FEDE*x.

And then I came home and emailed them. One hour later they hadn't responded which is most unusual. A second hour past and still nothing. I just need to add here that I kept my father and Jeanne abreast of every single move nobody else knew anything. Andie only found out when she arrived in the thick of it. I rang my folks to tell them it was a go. Feeling very anxious, yes me anxious hard to imagine, NOT, I rang our coordinator cos I was about to die of waiting. We spoke to our lady and she said, I have some good news, you have been matched. I nearly fell over, how could this be. I know FED*ex is quick but seriously how could we be matched? Then it sank in and in front of Lily I said, "so can we tell Lily she has a sister?" The answer was, yes you can. Lily of course heard this and shrieked, "I have a sister?". All I could think was no, don't tell her yet we still have hoops to jump through. So I looked at her and said, "Oh Honey I am sorry, we are talking about what happens when you get your sister". She went back to doing her homework. After we hung up I realised that I had just received, the call" but in fact I had made the call. Very odd way of receiving your referral.

I rang Jacob and told him. He was so happy and then I said, "shall we tell Lily"?
He said, Yes, No, I mean Yes"
I said,laughing "I shall try this again, Shall we tell Lil?"
He said, "Yes".
I wanted to wait for him but he wanted me to do it so I video taped it all for him to see.

I picked up the DHS package and walked up to lily and told her that I had something very important to tell and that I needed to video tape her. She was fine with it. She sat down very still and I handed her the package and told her that it came for her today in the post. She looked puzzled and then opened it up. She stared in disbelief and ever so gently pulled out her sisters pictures and asked if this was her sister. When I said it was she kissed the photo. She has been floating on the big sister cloud ever since.

I called back my parents and told my father and he said, "I know she is ours with that name she couldn't belong to anyone else".
It just so happens that her Chinese name is part of maiden name and the part that we ALL got called as a nickname. See it was fate. I was unable to talk about it because it wasn't certain but now it is. The CCAA has our LOI and we are moving forward. We are all so excited.

Our little girl is 9 months old and is waiting for us in Guangdong. She has a very mild heart condition that we will take care of once she comes home. We are calling her Rose but we seem to use Rosie more than Rose. Lily saw her face, saw one rosey cheek and said, "Lets call her Rosie". It doesn't matter what name we call her as long as we can call her ours.

Now for the bad news: I cannot post her photos as she is not officially ours yet in the eyes of the CCAA. We have a confidentiality agreement with our agency. I am so sorry. She is gorgeous, just gorgeous and we love her to bits. Once I get the Ok I will slap her cuteness all over this blog.
We hope to travel within the next 2-5 months. Our agency is working at warped speed ditto our social worker. We still have a few hoops and hurdles but we are on our way.

I am the luckiest person in the world. I have the 2 most beautiful girls in the world.......don't we all.