Monday, March 3, 2008

BLASTOFF - THE COUNTDOWN IS OVER






I am so thrilled to announce the arrival of our daughter Aubriana Rose.


She shares her July 31, 2007 birthday with her daddy (which is extra special).


In January she weighed 14.3 lbs and was 24.02 inches long. She is located at the Chenzhou SWI in Hunan.
I wrote this poem for a postcard exchange in 2005; I was writing it to Aubriana and all the other children waiting to be united with their forever families.
Born In My Heart

I see you in my dreams and feel you in my heart;
Sweet baby waiting patiently, half a world apart.
I try hard to imagine your many gifts and charms,
Passing time until at last, I hold you in my arms.
Soon we'll be together and I'll give you all my love;
My precious little angel from heaven up above.

It is so strange to read those words now, from this perspective and the words are even more poignant to me.
For all of you waiting for your children; all I can honestly say to you, is the wait literally melts away when you see your child's face for the first time. It simply doesn't matter how you got there or how long it took - what is important is you are together at last.






41 comments:

Pug Mama said...

She is beautiful!!!
Congrats!!
And how awesome that she shares a B-day with dad!!!!

Anna said...

Congratulations! I saw your blog on RQ and was thrilled to see a referral from someone I actually know!

Anna
Molly's mommy

Julie B said...

Congratulations on your Spicy Girl. She is just precious. From the Forever Family of another Hunan Spice Girl!

Becky said...

She's beautiful! I have a friend whose daughter is from the same orphanage. They came home in December 2007. Congratulations!!

industrialpoppy said...

Congratulation-she is very beautiful, and the little poem brought a tear to my eyes!
You must be thrilled!

Susan said...

We got our referral on my husband's birthday, so I felt like my husband and daughter shared a birthday, too.

She is beautiful! May your wait for travel be short.

Susan Broberg said...

Congratulations for this wonderful news. I know how exciting this time is and how hard it is to wait any more…especially after such a long wait to get to this point! As you wait for your travel approval, or at any time, if you’d like to find out more about what your daughter’s Chinese name (characters) means, come visit us at http://ChineseNameAnalysis.blogspot.com and learn how you can get a personalized analysis. Best wishes and happy travels!

The Adventures of Jing and Ying said...

Your daughter is beautiful! My youngest daughter Sophie is also from that SWI. It is a very good SWI and part of the Half The Sky program.

Congratulations!!!

Erica

Research-China.Org said...

Congratulations on your Chenzhou referral! When you are ready to get her finding ad (which has a nice photo of her several months younger than her referral photos!) come visit us at www.research-china.org.

We hope you can travel soon!

Brian

Jess said...

What a beautiful baby girl! She has the sweetest little face! Congratulations!

Karen said...

From a fellow Precious Panda -

I want to say how beautiful your daughter is and how poignant it is to finally welcome our January DTC babies home! Aubriana is a beautiful child! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! Happy Referral Day!!!!!

Karen

Maddy and Zeke's Mom said...

Congrats! What a beautiful poem for a beautiful girl. So happy for you!

FHL said...

Your daughter is adorable. Congratulations!

swtfam said...

She is beautiful!! Enjoy it, because it will go by so fast!! We got our little girl in Aug. from the same SWI!! Hunan babies are spice girls! We are close to you (Sachse and I work in Frisco). Any questions we can help with let us know. Babyjellybeans.com Gracie Sweet
David & Jody

Lisa said...

Congrats Momma and Daddy!! She looks so much like her Daddy and how sweet to be sharing her birthday with him.

Debberoo said...

Many congratulations! My daughter is from the same SWI, we brought her home in March of 2006 and my husband was able to visit the SWI. I have photos if you would like to see. The building is fairly basic but they are in the process of getting a brand new building.

If you go to the Half the Sky website you will see a piece about HTS getting some supplies into them during the terrible weather a few weeks back.

Our daughter came to us very healthy and developmentally pretty much on target, she had clearly received very good care. We were thrilled to be given a photocopy of her HTS report by the SWI staff and we also got the original from HTS which gave us a couple of early photos of our daughter we would not otherwise have had.

There is a yahoo group for parents with children from Chenzhou SWI.

Again, many congrats on your lovely daughter.

Debberoo said...

p.s Here is the address for the yahoo group, lots of great info there.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chenzhou-Families

Unknown said...

I am the proud Mama to one Spicey girl from Hunan- and one July 4th birthday girl-
can't wait to follow your journey to your daughter.
congrats!!
Tamara

Robyn said...

So freakin' excited for you!!!!! I can't wait to give that girl some major smooches!!

Love ya!!

Elise said...

She is beautiful!!! Congratulations to you both! How wounderful to share her daddy's birthday!!!

Christie said...

Send my little niecie pooh over so I can hug and kiss her little chubby face! I am loving this last two months for M3!

Can you freaking stand this?!?!

At the rate we're growing, we're gonna need a bus to transport all of us to events...like Disney Princesses on Ice!

Love you - and so happy for you and Gary!

Cb

Stacey said...

V,
She is a refreshing beauty and it is such a joy to finally see her. I was thinking back to when we met at the birthday party for Miss M. and you were feeding Miah. I knew then what amazing mommy you were going to be and I am so very excited for you for both of your wonderful blessings. Congratulations and I can not wait to see you get her home!! Stacey

MB said...

Congratulations. She is beautiful

Our little Chenzhou beauty was adopted almost 3 years ago and has been the biggest blessing in our lives.

Michelle Butler

Tracy said...

Congrats - she is too cute and how cool that she shares a birthday with her daddy - our Spicy Hunan daughter is from the Chenzhou SWI as well - she came to us in October so she and your daughter were there together for a short while - and rest assured that it is a wonderful orphanage - sponsored by Half the Sky - and they take great care of the kiddos there. You should feel very honored to have a daughter from there! If you haven't yet, you will want to join the Chenzhou SWI yahoo group - so much great info in there! CONGRATS AGAIN! What a great, great day for you.

-- Tracy (Trace7 from RQ)

Adoption & Fire said...

Congratulations on your referral! She is too cute!

Cherith said...

She is just darling! Congratulations!

Mendy said...

Congratulations! She is adorable!
Mendy
RQ

Courtney said...

Congrats! She's adorable!

Shannon said...

Congratulations on your referral! What a great thing to share a birthday with her Daddy. Best wishes.

Young Creations said...

What a blessing. How fun that they will share a bday. Congratulations.
Lauren

Kristy said...

She is so beautiful!!! I am so happy for you. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I am April lid. I can start to feel the feeling of "Hey this is really gonna happen!!!" And it feels so darn good!!! What is your husband and daughters Birthday? Mine is July 11th!!!

I am looking forward to following along on your journey,

God bless you.

Love and blessings, Kristy

Lesa said...

What a sweet little face. She is beautiful!! I know you are over the moon.

I think I missed how old she is. Sharing a birthday with her daddy is very special.

Thank you for sharing the news.

Agency friend,
Lesa L.

Deb said...

Congrats! She is a beauty!

4D said...

Congratulations! She is precious.

Keep smilin!

Fliss and Mike Adventures said...

She is to cute to mention...

Sandra said...

Congratulation Gary and Valerie on becoming a family of four! My mother and I are both so very happy for you guys. Your little girl is absolutely beautiful! We hope you travel soon to have her in your arms!

AmyO said...

AAAHHH so cute! Congratulations

Kim said...

She is just a gorgeous little thing :)

JMCS said...

Aubrina Rose is beautiful! Congratulations, I saw your link on RQ. I hope TA comes quickly. You must be over the moon. Look at that sweet little face! :)

Hugs,
Jonni

Unknown said...

What adorable chubby cheeks she has! Can't wait to see her smile when she is with her forever family! CONGRATS!!

Louanne said...

She's so cute!!! We are back and glad to finally see her photo on your blog. I know you are counting the days to TA now!!

Mike, Louanne and Nadia