Love at First Sight

 I took these pictures of Mae last year and I love seeing how she's grown!

Today marks the day that we first got a glimpse of Mae.  It was 3 years ago today that we very excitedly called our agency about a little girl that had captured our hearts and first got to lay eyes on the one that we now call ours forever.

The night before this day I remember very well. We had been looking at the CCAI waiting children that they would post on their website...  They normally had around 20 children posted and would add new ones every week or so.  When I looked at the website July 29, 2010, they had put up a few new children and Mae was one of them.  Almost always they would have pictures and a few paragraphs about each child describing their special need. With Mae's they did not add any pictures... They said her special need was epilepsy and anemia and just a few details about her personality and beginnings.

I remember being at our print shop and reading her profile to Cody. (We used to print late at night after work.) That night I remember calling my mom and my sister around 11pm (waking them up) wanting to read to them about this precious little girl. I know her epilepsy scared us a little bit but I also know I did not get any sleep that night. The next morning I started refreshing the CCAI website every few minutes, hoping that they would add her pictures.  I might be a little crazy, but I know I refreshed their page on my phone a thousand times... and every time I talked to Cody he would ask if they had any pictures of her yet.

Finally, late in the afternoon they added her picture and I have never experienced love at first sight because I truly believe I loved her even before this.  I texted Cody immediately with her pictures and we both knew she was meant for us. We called our agency and requested her full file.  (They send you the children's full file with more medical details so that you can meet with your doctor or specialist to make sure you are comfortable with the child's special need.)

So, for those of you that didn't know, our Mae had many, many seizures in China. She got very sick and would get very high fevers... but her seizures were not epilepsy.  When we got home from China she was completely cleared with a perfect bill of health. And today she is the healthiest kid we know. Thank you, Jesus!