A year ago today the best miracle of all happened to me- I met Emily FuZhong! I remember every detail of that day. I remember how we excited and nervous and anxious I was the whole 2 hour flight from Beijing to Chongqing. Tony slept, and I attempted to read. After reading the same sentence about 35 times, I realized that nothing was going to take my mind off what was going to happen soon, meeting Emily and becoming a real live FAMILY. I just stared at her picture and prayed and cried a bit. Our flight was delayed in leaving Beijing, so when we arrived and met our guide, he told us the babies were already there, waiting for us. We got our luggage and got on our bus and went right over to the government building. Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t get sick on that bus ride. I was totally a bundle of nerves. Would she like me? Would she scream and cry? Would we have an easy transition together? Would she like Tony? AHHHHHHH!! We got there and went up to the 14th floor. On the elevator ride, everyone was turning on cameras and videos to make sure not to miss a moment. I wasn’t sure exactly how this would happen. Would they put us in a room and bring us the babies? I’d read 100s of blogs and that seemed to be normal procedure. But not for us!! We got off the elevator turned a corner, and there was Emily, in a walker, with about 400 layers of clothes on, just waiting for us. I remember bending down to say hello. She didn’t cry. She just looked at me with her big eyes and put her hand up and touched my cheek. Like hey, you’re here! Tony picked her up out of the walker and told her we loved her. He was right. Although only me and dad and Tony were there that day, in real life so many family and friends were sending her their love from half a world away. It was the most amazing day ever. Emily never cried. She just sort of observed us with her big eyes. She let us hold her with no problems. I was sure once we tried to leave, she would let us have it. But she didn’t. (at least she didn’t until she got hungry!! Then it was loud complaining!) I have since learned that this is how Em handles all new situations. She just stops and stares and takes everything in. Then she makes up her mind weather this is good stuff or bad stuff and moves on from there. She must have decided we were good stuff. (lucky for us!) She was just perfect.
Later when we got back to the hotel we took off 2 or 3 layers of her clothes so she could breathe a bit. We called Mom and told her all about her new granddaughter. We called Tony’s parents. We called my sister. We sent emails. I wanted to climb to the top of the hotel we were in and shout from the rooftops. HEY WORLD, I HAVE A DAUGHTER! Instead, I settled on just being in happy shock. It was a super super day and the most amazing experience in my entire life.
When I look back on this year, I’m just astounded. First, Emily came home and we became a family. Then Tony and I got married. We have this beautiful life together and just thinking about how much I have and how much I am grateful for, it makes me cry a bit. Emily is the sunshine in my life. She is happiness and joy and laughter all combined into one tiny and perfect person. She fits into our family so well, I can’t help but believe in fate and destiny and God.
Tonight we are celebrating our first Forever Family Day. I couldn’t be more excited and happy!
