NOLA

For a little over 2 years now, I have faithfully researched and read blogs on adoption. 

I have read countless accounts of how each adoption journey unfolded, and at every one my first thought was simply "Wow. Amazing."
I wondered how ours would play out, and what our journey would look like.

It has been incredible so far.

I have met and made new friends--some near and some far--who are also on this journey.

I have cried tears.  Lots and lots of tears.
I have learned so much.  Not just about adoption and the process, but about myself.
I have experienced speedy approvals and long setbacks.

And I thought I was prepared.
But on March 1, 2012, our lives changed forever and it has rocked my world.

Here's how it all went down:

I woke up that Thursday morning to find an email from our awesome agency coordinator (XC) telling me that we were LID (logged in) as of March 1, 2012.  Fantastic!  The shared list had just come out on Monday, 3 days before, so I figured we would wait and hope like heck we might be matched off the next list- which would be released in about 4-6 weeks. 
I emailed her back and asked her how long we should realistically expect to wait for a referral based on OUR parameters specified (age, gender, special need, etc.)
And she told me we would be waiting 6-8 months.
WHAT? 
Not acceptable.
So me, being the impatient go-getter that I am, I decided I was going to take matters into my own hands and find my own kid!
I searched the lists all morning. 
Finally, I found a child that I thought may be a good fit for our family.
I emailed XC and asked to view the file.
She told me it was on hold with a family right now.
I said OK, if it becomes available again would you please send it to me, and do you have any other files we may be interested in?
She told me she would prefer we wait and let her match us from the list (this way you are able to get younger and less severe special needs) instead of us looking on our own.
I told her that was my preference, too, but I was terrified of the potential long wait.
Then she didn't reply...for 5 hours.
*crickets chirping*
I thought I made her mad, that I had been too pushy.
Then at 8:32 p.m. I checked my email and right as I logged on an email came through from her.
I said to Tyson "Oh, she is probably telling me to sit down, shut up, and wait my turn like everyone else!"
But it said that she had locked a file for us!
I was in shock!
We all gathered around the computer to open it together.
The first thing we saw was her picture.
Then medical information, and 2 more pictures.
About 1/2 way through reading, I glanced over at Tyson and he had tears running down his face.
And we knew.
Honestly, it took longer to download the pdf file than it did to know that she is our daughter.
We hugged and cried some more tears and stared at her picture for the next 2 hours.
The next morning, as early as I could, I called XC and told her we wanted to proceed with her adoption and we wrote our Letter Of Intent (LOI) for Feng MaoXin...who will be known as Nola MaoXin Herrmann.

This is the very first picture we saw of her!


She lives in Shanghai, China




She is 22 months old.  The pictures we have are 6 months old, so we are working on getting updated pics and measurements for her.  But from what I can tell, she is a tiny little peanut!  At her medical exam (when she was 16 months old), she was only 16 lbs! 
So all of you aunts who are relentlessly texting me wanting to know what sizes to buy.....
I got nothin'.  No clue. 
One person told me 12-18 months, but someone else just sent an outfit to her daughter (and got pics of her wearing it) who has the same measurements and the outfit was 6-9 months. 

We still have a few more hoops to jump through before we can go get her.
Our agency is telling us 5 1/2 months from now--which would be mid-August.
But they also have a tendency to over-estimate timelines (so crazy adoptive parents don't get bent out of shape), so I am hoping and praying for late July or early August.

We sent her a small care package including a photo album with pictures of our family and our house, a disposable camera (the nannies will take pics of her and give it to us when we go get her), a stuffed teddy bear, and a letter.  Soon she will know that a family is coming for her and we already love her to the moon and back!