Faith minutes after being placed in our arms.

Faith, one year later.

December 5, 2006

Today is for celebrating!

God blessed us with Faith one year ago today. It was such a surreal day. I remember getting ready to board our flight to Chongqing and being aware that this was the last time we’d be a family of four. (Of course, Faith was already in our hearts.)

My mind was racing and my heart was yearning for my little girl. I knew that we were following God’s plan by adopting Faith, yet I became anxious and butterflies filled my stomach. Would I be able to recognize her? What would it mean if I couldn’t? Will she be scared of us? Will I know how to feed her? (I breast fed the first two.) How will Samantha and Noah react? What made me deserving of such an honor?

We arrived in Chongqing and checked into the Harbour Plaza Hotel. It was beautiful and elegantly decorated for Christmas. I scurried to the room to gather nanny gifts while Evan filled out additional paperwork. Before we knew it, we (the Qianjiang families) were on a bus headed to the Civil Affairs Office to meet our babies. The bus stopped and we walked through a small storefront shop which led to an old elevator. The elevator took us straight to our daughters.

The girls were in their little walkers! Immediately I was relieved to recognize Faith, our little baldy, and was overcome with emotion. We were not able to touch or approach her, which took lots of self constraint. We were shown into a conference room where we prayed for our babies, as soon as we said, “Amen”, we were asked if we wanted to get our babies. Before we knew it, Faith was in our arms.

Faith came to us willingly and immediately was comfortable in my arms. Within 15 minutes she was asleep on my shoulder. She was everything wonderful and perfect. She was a miracle, my miracle.

Over the past year, we have watched Faith blossom into the most lovable and precious little girl. She initially was very serious and reserved; today she is a little comedian and loves to make us laugh. She spoke little in those first days; now she talks like a true Masyr (all the time). She has made our lives much richer and our hearts bigger. She has brought out the best in all of us. We have a different view of the world. We are grateful that China allowed us to come in and take with us, the best gift they had to offer. My heart is bursting with Joy and Thanksgiving!!

I still am amazed at how God made me a mom to a little Chinese girl on the other side of the world. Thanks be to the Lord!!

The first picture of our family.