Updated Photos!

We received updated photos of Abigail Mae this afternoon! She seems happier and pudgier than in her referral photos. We think we will travel the first of May, but still won't find out for sure for a couple of weeks.

What's In a Name?

In our family, what's in a name is 7 letters. We just discovered that when deciding on baby names. Douglas, Allison and Natalie all have seven letters!

So our baby girl needed a seven letter name, and we came up with an oldie, but goodie -- Abigail. We will name her Abigail Mae WenLian White. WenLian comes from her Chinese name.

Abigail is a name we have always liked. And Gail is my mother's middle name, and she has been so good to Natalie. Doug has always liked the name Mae. It was his grandmother's name. Also we anticipate that we will bring Abigail home in the month of May. There is a Chinese spelling for her middle name Mei, but we decided not to use it since we have already incorporated her actual Chinese name.

Hope you are doing well Abigail Mae -- Abbimae, for short.

Bundle of Joy

We learned more about our happy baby today when we went to the adoption agency to pick up her translated file. She loves to giggle loudly. She likes to be amused and entertained. She is active, outgoing and energetic -- always kicking her legs and waving her arms. She also likes to be held all the time. Hummm, all of it sounds very familiar.

We learned the meaning of her name. Fu is the surname of the orphanage. Wen means beautiful cloud tints. Lian means lotus. How pretty.

What wonderful information to get today. I have to say it one more time. We are truly blessed.

Announcing Our Long-awaited Daughter!

Meet our little blessing, Fu Wen Lian, age 7 1/2 months, from Fuzhou city in Jiangxi Province. She is so adorable! We're thrilled!

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We got the call at 1:08 p.m. today. I had been following the referral announcements and arrivals on my favorite site Rumor Queen. News came about a Spanish site, then a Scadanavian country, next was Denmark. Then all of a sudden, I saw the first person in the U.S. reporting that they were called. I literally got up from my chair and the phone rang! It was The Call! What a surprise. Then they e-mailed the photos.

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Doug's first response: Yep, she's beautiful. And chunky as all get out. Check out that last picture. She looks mad.

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Natalie's first response: Ohhhh, she's cute. I'm a big sister.

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Natalie on Phone to Grandmom: I can't wait for little sister. I should put rocket shoes on and just go there myself. It would be faster than a slow old plane!

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It's been a whirlwind around here all weekend since I learned Friday afternoon that our referral was likely in the batch arriving on Monday. Lots of name discussions, crib setting up, beginning of rebabyproofing. After waiting just a month and a week shy of four years, there were a few things we'd put on the back burner to avoid thinking about the wait. Boy, we're busy now!

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I had warned my class that I was getting an incredibly important phone call today -- more important to the doctor. They were all ears when I took the call. The little detectives were whispering back and forth figuring it out. When I got off the phone, they called out, "You're getting a baby!"

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We're all excited. Tomorrow we go to the agency to get our more information about our little Fu Wen Lian.