ONE YEAR ago...MY orphan eyes meet HER orphan eyes!

Filled with so many memories this week of our journey to VIETNAM to bring home our daughter!!! It has been ONE YEAR already of that chapter in our lives, the culminating ending of a two year process in adoption pregnancy!!! After seeing her referral photo every day for FIVE MONTHS, we were finally going to be "delivered" our baby girl, Nguyen thi Thuy Trang at 27 mos., 30.5" tall and 20.5 lbs.!!!! We have such joy and thankfulness, I vividly remember the anticipation of meeting her for the FIRST time after arriving from our 23 hours flight from DFW to Saigon, VN and not wanting to "tour the city" the day before our drive to Ninh Thuan. I remember Heather (the other mom going to my orphanage to get her almost one yr. first born, son!!!) and desperately trying to get our agency to send us to Ninh Thuan a DAY sooner to see our babies, but the itinerary was set for us to "shop and rest" the day before our long bus ride to Ninh Thuan. FINALLY, 6am on 13th of March 2007 - we were leaving Saigon to take our LONG bumpy, can't get there fast enough bus ride to Ninh Thuan, Vietnam!!! The shores of the South China Seas (Pacific Ocean) would soon tell us we were near by!!! I remember getting to the hotel checking in, scurrying quickly to change, freshen up and "look nice" to meet my daughter for the first time. She would never notice, care or realize if I had my hair messy, smelled or looked ratty..."HELLO!!! She has NOTHING, lives in an orphanage after her mother dropped her off the DAY BEFORE she turned 18 mos. old" What was I thinking. As we embarked the parking lot, we saw the children gathered at the top of the stairs looking to see what "foreigners" had arrived. I saw, Maile (My-lee) Noel Thuy Trang Carlson for the first time. The caregivers soon whisked her away to change her once they knew we had arrived. Tears were streaming down my face, heart was racing, the MOMENT was FINALLY here as we rushed up the stairs of the Ninh Thuan Orphanage. It felt like the "Chariots of Fire" moment running in SLOW motion to get to the finish line.

As we arrived at the top of the balcony of the orphanage, not even a minute later before I could get my camera out, Maile was dodging at me...THIS is the photo I got of her right before arriving into my arms!!! Such wonder, bewilderment, shock on her little face in her sweet, white littl' dress and no shoes on!!!! Oh my goodness, my daughter and I would now meet! I wondered, "Does she KNOW about me? does she KNOW I'm going to be her FOREVER Mommy?" "Will she like us?" So many questions racing through my mind that would only answer as time marched forward...

Maile (we called her "Thuy Trang" in VIETNAM so she would know we knew her name & have kept it legally now as well) - but she NEVER cried when I held her, she took everything in with those BIG dark brown eyes in which I could SEE my reflection in. Wow, it was an undescribeable moment in time to just want to hold her and tell her, "It's going to be OKAY now!!!" I practiced very basic Vietnamese phrases, "Mommy loves you," "Pretty girl" and tried to keep telling her that in my AMERICAN (Texas) accent! Yikes.

When "Ba" (daddy) tried to hold her for the first time, she CRIED...the FIRST time I would see her cry...oh that face!!!! Her littl' eyes disappeared and her mouth gapping open with full set of teeth!!! She was so distressed with this WHITE MONSTER holding her after I had just had her trying to reassure her "it's all good." I was even more stunned that she CALMED down and never cried when I held her that first day. Surely the workers MUST have said something about getting a "new Mommy" or something, PLUS me BEING and LOOKING Vietnamese was my trump card.... I really think that was invaluable in helping Maile relate to me :)!!!!

THIS IS one of my MOST FAVORITE photos of just holding her, thanking God for her, wanting the warm, brisk breeze to dance through our hairs and NEVER let go...I did NOT want THIS moment to end!!!! I was in total disbelief that my DAUGHTER was now and forever going to be mine...well, by the next day, 14th of MARCH 2007 - it would all be official!!! Wow, THANK YOU God for being so Mighty, all-knowing, loving and powerful to bring this little life into ours. "Trust in the Lord, with ALL your heart, lean NOT on your own understanding, but in ALL your ways acknowledge HIM and He will make your paths straight!" - Prov. 3:5-6
Forever changed, forever touched, forever grateful....