Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh.  I can not begin to explain the last few days.  They've been good, they've been great, they've been miraculous!!!!  On Thursday we unexpectedly received a few new pictures of our baby girl!  This was the first time we'd seen her since we left her at the orphanage over three months ago. After worrying ever single day, "Is she eating enough? Is she losing weight? Is she happy?" I can't describe the pure, intense, overwhelming joy of opening my email account and unexpectedly seeing her beautiful, happy face! What a blessing!!!!! AND It appears as though she's even gained some weight!!!!!  Praise God!!! All day long, Sean and I called and texted each other just to talk about how beautiful our baby girl is and how excited we were to SEEEE HER!!!!

THEN, the next day, I wake up to an email from our coordinator and when I opened it there was our decree!!!!!!!!! THE official, signed, watermarked decree!!!!!!! The paper we've been waiting on for 3 and a half months!  Earlier in the week we had learned that the person whose signature we needed was out of the country and could be back in a matter of days, weeks, or months. Nobody knew. So, waking up to this document was COMPLETELY unexpected.  I sat there and read the email over and over and just cried and cried as I called Sean to tell him the good news.  "GUESS WHAT?!??  WE HAVE OUR DECREE!!!!! THE OFFICIAL ADOPTION DECREE!!!!!!" There were many tears and cheers coming from Tennessee on Friday.

THEN, TODAY  I get a call from my coordinator, and she tells me that Abiella's birth certificate (with our names) has been printed!!!!!!! (Remember these were the two documents we've been waiting on for three and a half months!) I screamed over the phone, laughed, cried, and told her my knees were so weak I was going to have to sit down :)  We can now move forward with the next step: Filing the I-600!!

To say Sean and I are on cloud 9 is a massive understatement.  I feel like the barrier has been lifted and we're now zooming down that river again! So what's next??  Well, big things friends, big things.

I'll write about them tomorrow, b/c Sean and I've got some brainstorming to do tonight.  But for now, just know that I am SO THANKFUL for your prayers!!!! PLEASE keep them coming! We need to get this little girl home!!!!!!!!

Blessings,