THE "BROWN STORK'S" ARRIVAL

September 3, 2008: Seeing her face for the first time...
I didn't get much sleep last night. Too excited! I can only liken it to trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve as a child ... just knowing something really special is waiting for you. I wasn't counting the hours. Just waiting for time to pass with a peace I hadn't felt in a long time.

I awoke sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. and, try as I might, couldn't fall back to sleep. I got up just before 6:30 and immediately logged onto the computer to track the UPS truck that was going to be delivering my child. The package had been scanned in at the FW facility around 5:50 a.m. - she was so close! So I took a shower and got ready for the day. Then onto the chore of getting the camera and video recorder atop the tripods and ready to grab when the truck got here.

I tried to keep busy by working on our referral announcements - scrapbook style. I sat at the dining room table and glanced out the front window every time I heard anything resembling a vehicle. Rick was keeping busy out in the garage cleaning our vehicles, but when he came inside he was all sweaty so I asked him to start doing something inside. I really didn't want his shirt all sweaty when the truck arrived and forever have sweat stains in our pictures. I know ... a little obssesive. So to keep busy, we logged back onto the computer to track the package. It had been scanned in at the MRN facility and was on the truck for delivery. Ooohh, she was almost here! I checked some emails and figured afterwards we could start doing some research on Jiangxi Province. While I was doing this, Rick went outside to close the garage door. When he came back inside, he calmly said, "Let's get ready." "Is it coming?!" I asked. It was! The "brown stork" was turning onto our road and heading towards our drive for a landing. I literally jumped up and down in anticipation.

We called for Spencer, grabbed the cameras and ran outside to quickly set them up. I'm figuring by now Mister UPS Driver might have thought something was up. While we turned on the video camera, he went to the back of the truck and emerged with the most precious looking envelope I'd ever seen.

"I bet you never thought you'd be delivering a baby today," I said to him. "Are there pictures?" he asked. "Yes, from China!" And in that handoff, Malia was delivered to us at 10:02 a.m.

After handing over the envelope, he really seemed to want to leave right away, but I told him he couldn't until we got a picture. I think at first he thought I was kidding. "We have to get your picture, you're the brown stork!" I explained. So we gathered in front of the "brown stork" and captured our delivery moment.

As he left, the three of us filed inside and set up the video recorder in the living room to capture the moment we first saw Malia's face. Of course, the DVD was full, so we had to fumble around putting a new one in (which meant I only got my first words to Mr. UPS Driver on the other disc before it quit!)

We all sat down on the couch, took deep breaths and pulled out a transluscent file folder that contained photos of the most precious little girl in the whole wide world ... our daughter (and sister)! We could immediately see that she had lots of hair. After that I first noticed her eyebrows ... I absolutely love those eyebrows. Rick first noticed her eyes. She was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

We took some time and flipped through the folder that contained copies of precious Chinese/American documents and three photos of our dear, precious Malia. One attached to our offical referral document from CHI and two other loose photos.

Then it was off to the dining room table to fill out documents. There were four papers we needed to fill out, sign and overnight back to our agency. So, we got to work to get that part out of the way. We wanted to go show off our Malia!

(Nice job with the photos, Spencer!)

After we were done filling out the forms, Rick and I each called our Moms. We would have talked with our Dads, but they were both out golfing! Helloooo!!

My parents had planned to head over to our house later in the day, but my Mom wanted Malia's pictures scanned and emailed to her at work ASAP. So, we headed to Rick's Mom's house to get the job done. It was so fun getting to see the excitement on Cindy's face when she first saw Malia (I got it on camera). We then headed back to her office to scan and email. I called my Mom to let her know they were on the way and was so touched to hear her reaction, even if it was across a phone line. At least we got to share the moment that way!

Shortly afterwards, Rick's Dad got home and saw Malia's pictures. And after that, Rick's sister, Amanda, arrived and saw our precious daughter. I got both their reactions on camera, too.

We printed out some temporary photos for people to take with them, especially Spencer since we needed to get him back to school. I hadn't heard yet if my Dad had seen Malia, so I gave him a call on his cell. He was still at the golf course, that little rascal. But, he was only 10 minutes away. So I made him stay put so we could drive by the school, drop Spencer off and then head over to introduce him to his first granddaughter. Yep, got his reaction on camera, too.

After that, we headed into town to send out the forms to our agency and then make copies of Malia's photos. While we were in town, we couldn't help but stop by the realty agency that Gay works for and show off Malia to the woman who has done so much for us and has practially lived through this adoption journey with us.

On our way home, I called Tonya so she could come over and see Malia's pictures. She beat us to our house! A little while later, my friend Christine stopped by to see Malia. I must admit I didn't grow tired of showing her off.

Then my parents arrived with my nephew, big K. I finally got a picture of my Mom looking at Malia's pictures. After talking adoption for awhile, we headed out to our favorite Chinese restaurant for supper. While we were there, we got to show off Malia's photos to the family that owns the restaurant. They are from China and the parents speak little English. One of their daughters, Anna, translated bits and pieces of some of the documents we had.

The day was fabulous! It seemed to fly by, yet it also seemed like a really long day. There weren't as many tears today. Just more excitement and joy. Malia's face was no longer a mystery.

(Our first family photo ... well, kind of.)