One Year Ago Today...

 The very first photo we saw of our soon to be daughter

Big Sister Danika sitting on the very same blanket!

 Another referral photo of Sienna

 Referral photo

Celebrating and announcing to our friends and family!

 Celebrating Sienna's 1st birthday in Minnesota...

While she celebrated in China.

One year ago today we first saw this beautiful face.  Immediately I knew beyond the shadow of even the smallest doubt, this was the child God had waiting to be our second daughter and Danika’s little sister.  I remember like it was yesterday.  After being notified by our Adoption Agency that there were  some  children on the “waiting child list” who were waiting for their match with their forever families I pulled up the listing as I had a few times in the past, not expecting to really see “the one”.

I scrolled down the list, and a photo caught my eye.  A little ten month old girl listed as “Sienna” by our agency and when my eyes locked on her photo I instantly knew she was “the one”.  The little eyes looking back at me in the photo called to me, and when I studied the photo more I knew…she was at the same children’s home that her big sister was in when we traveled to bring her home.  How could I know? In her referral photo she was sitting on the same blanket that Danika was sitting on – without a doubt…I had studied that first photo of Danika for hours and hours when we first received it and I would know that blanket anywhere.

We decided to pull Sienna’s file and have our team of medical doctors look over her file.  All of the feedback was positive, and we were confident we were acting according to God’s plan for us to move forward, so within 6 hours of first seeing her photo, we contacted our agency to “lock” her file.  To lock a file basically means you are willing to proceed with the adoption with very few exceptions.

What a whirlwind of paperwork the next few days were…sending a “care and nurture plan” to China, documents to be signed and notarized, copied and fedexed, finding answers, sending care packages and waiting for approvals.  Thankfully in only a week we heard back from China…we were pre-approved to adopt Sienna! 

When we were finally allowed to post photos of Sienna and and our plans to bring her home, we were contacted by three other families who had prayerfully considered and even agonized over her file…each one knowing that while they would love her and welcome her into their family unconditionally, God had  plans for a different family for this little girl, plans for our family to bring this little girl home.    

We can’t believe that now, a year later not only is this precious child home, but she has been home for more than six months and she is growing, thriving and learning every day.  We are still absolutely convinced that she was part of God’s plan for our family – and we rejoice in His plan!