The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face...

So yes, Roberta Flack is pretty awesome, but that's not what this post is all about.  Nope - it's about that magical day when we received the file of Zhou Yin Lan, also known as our little Elyse.

To really understand, we have to go back a few weeks.  In February, I was checking out the cutie-patootie kiddos on CCAI's Waiting Child list.  This was nothing new - I'd check a few times a day in hopes that the little girl of our dreams would be posted there, despite the numerous sweet boys that always graced the page.

Well, in February, a group of about 6 little girls showed up!  And they were CUTE!  And they were all labeled "LID Only," which means we had to have our dossier "log in date" from China or at least be close to sending the paperwork to China.  I didn't care.  I researched anyhow, cuz you never know.  Maybe the agency would think we were close enough and would allow us to review a file.  Three of these little girl had a special need that we had not considered - or even researched - before, because it just sounded scary.  But these girls were so cute that I just had to see what this need was all about.  I researched and realized this particular need had a very WIDE spectrum of afflictions and could be very simple to deal with or could be pretty tough for our family.  I read story after story of little ones who came home from China and there was hardly any indication of affects from this need.

Ben and I discussed it, and there was one of those 3 little girls we both had fallen hard for.  She was a sweet little angel girl, and she'd been on the list a few weeks.  We decided we were going to just see if our agency would let us review her file so the doctors could give us information specific to her.  Well, I called and was told CCAI really wanted us to be closer to sending in our dossier and since I was still waiting on Homeland Security, they would put the Komada name on her file to call if that time came.  We would need to "wait and see."

Well, we didn't receive a call any time soon, and this little girl's file disappeared from the list, so we figured we'd continue to wait and trust in God, that He would send us the daughter that was meant to be ours.  On March 6th, we went up to Denver to have our biometrics (fancy computer fingerprints) done for the Dept of Homeland Security, and on our way, we dropped all our other completed documents off at CCAI.  On the way to the agency, we decided that we would mark the "maybe" box next to that special need we had spent a month researching.  We still weren't comfortable to mark "yes," by "maybe" was a step we were ready to take.

Fast forward 10 days.  March 16th, a Friday.  Ben had the day off, so when Grace went down for her nap, I headed to the grocery store.  This was a big shopping and I realized I needed to get the meats and dairy home before I headed out to the next store on my list.  But, just as I was turning toward our house, I received a phone call from Ben who told me to get home RIGHT AWAY.  Judy Winger had called with a file for us to review and my sweet husband said to her, "don't say anything else - we have to have my wife her to hear this.  We'll call you right back."

I was shaking on that drive home, so luckily I was close to my destination.  I wouldn't let Ben hang up with me either - made him talk to me until I arrived. On that short drive, we got chills when we realized this call was the closest day possible to St Patrick's Day.  You see, my wonderful mother loved her Irish heritage, and I'm always looking for significance in dates...

When I got home, we called Judy, and she told us she had the file of a 17 month old little girl with big, beautiful eyes and with the special need we had recently said maybe to.  This little girl's file did not require us to have a Log In Date, so she called us immediately.  She asked if we wanted to review this file and we said, "YES!  Send it please!"

Well, those 15 minutes or so it took her to send it to my Hotmail inbox were some of the longest minutes of my life.  And when it arrived, we did what all responsible adoptive parents are supposed to do - we opened the Word files first.  You see, we're cautioned against looking at the pictures of children until you read their medical info.  We read through the file of this little girl, and things looked good.  Really good.  She was outgoing, she was smiley, and there were some indications that most of the side effects of her needs would be minor.  We were in awe at this point of how good God was.  We asked for Him to send us the right child, and before even seeing her picture, we felt she was a treasure.

Then, we opened the photo.  I know most of you have seen her pictures, but wow.  We were in awe.

How could you not be in love with that little one!?!?!?  We called Judy then and told her we were going to move forward with her file and would be presenting her information to doctors and specialists.  And that's what we did!

The following week, on Tuesday, we heard from Denver Children's Hospital that aside from one aspect, her medical prognosis was great.  Besides, on Friday we had already decided that she was ours.  As we saw it,  if we said no, it's not like this little girl's needs would just go away.  She needed some medical care, and more importantly, she needed parents.

And these parents here in Colorado?  Well, we needed a little girl - this little girl!