…and then I saw them…
I could no longer wait to race toward them!
Neither Josh nor I could hold back the tears of joy when we locked eyes.
Up until this point Alethia hadn’t seen me yet, as the gathered crowd had her full attention. I had prepared myself for all sorts of scenarios for her reaction, trying to be realistic yet hoping for the embrace I’d been waiting for, knowing she hadn’t seen me in over a month. I gently called her name and told her, “Mommy is here, baby!”
As soon as she saw me…
…she collapsed into my arms and held on tight, as if she was afraid I would disappear from her again.
She was here…and she remembered!!!!!
By that time our other kids were running around the corner to meet us, shouting “Daddy” and “Alethia”!
It was all I could do to hold my ground. It was just so surreal! Having my whole family all together was way more joyous that I had ever imagined.
I couldn’t stop kissing her as I slowly realized that my grip on her was just as tight as hers was on me:)
She was here. I could breathe again…
Now it was time to introduce her to the world:) This was the little one they had been praying so hard for. God had given us our miracle!
***More To Come***
That was the sweetest reunion I have ever seen outside my husband coming back from Iraq…You have the sweetest family I love how you love, so openly, so pure. May the God who made all this happen bring you more joy than you thought you heart could hold in the days , months and years ahead. Hope to come to NC soon to meet you sweet Alethia, and maybe by the than the newest addition….Ya! Love you guys.
Tears. Tears. More Tears. Miracle. Emotional. Grateful. Humbled. Family Complete.
This is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing the moment with those of us who are far away. God bless your family.
So amazing! What a beautiful day :). I loved seeing this post and can’t wait to come and meet Alethia!
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
So amazing and sweet! So happy for you guys!
Tears of joy. These pictures are so precious and brought back such amazing memories of our own homecomings! So happy that you are all home together!
I’m just now getting to read all about this journey. This made me tear up. So happy for you guys!!
I just recently found your blog and have cried my eyes out watching your beautiful God story come to fruition! My family is in the VERY beginning stages of adopting and our heart is for Uganda. Is that where your beautiful daughter is from? Are you able to say what orphanage? And did the agency find her in that specific orphanage? Or did you find the orphanage and then find her? Thanks for any help you can offer:) God bless your beautiful family!!!
Hey Aly, typically a family interested in adopting will find an agency and work through their babies home. Either that or begin the process of independent adoption, which I’m not as familiar with, to find a babies home and I believe, wait for a referral from that orphanage. Our story is a bit different, as we have had years of history with the organization in Uganda who began the babies home where our little girl was. We first asked the director of the home to find out if she was adoptable and begin the initial investigations, then, through a series of connections, found an agency stateside who could help facilitate our paperwork to make sure we did everything right:)
I cried when I read this post. My husband and I have begun the process to adopt from Uganda, and I can’t wait until we have our babies in our arms.
I have come back to this post over and over and over and I get teary-eyed each time. It’s so beautiful! We have one son at home, another arrival due sometime this fall, and we have been in process to adopt two more treasures from Ukraine for eight months now. Our agency told us when we started that the entire process would take 5-9 months depending on how quickly we did our paperwork. I’m pretty sure we set a record for quickest home study, but there have been delays and obstacles beyond our control, one after the other. It’s probably going to be April now before we can bring them home. But I keep looking at these photos and dreaming of the day when my face wears the same expression yours is here! 🙂