What a difference a day makes

The day began with nervous stomachs. Typically, Todd and I would have relished the unique dining experience of the hotel's buffet breakfast--so many interesting foods to try! Today, however, we simply picked at a sampling of "safe" foods (the ones we recognized). We didn't need to wait too long, though, before walking across the street to meet our daughter (still sounds crazy when I say and hear that). Our group, including our agency's on site consultant, two couples, our neighbors and their boys and us (11 people total), braved the insanity of morning traffic at 10 a.m. (more about the traffic later). We walked into the official building not knowing if our daughters would be there yet. When I heard our consultant say, "Do you want to stop for a picture or do you want to see your baby now?", my heart started racing. Our consultant was two feet in front of us, and he could see our daughter around the corner! We found our feet and made our way around the corner and there she was. We knew her instantly (couldn't take our eyes off her) but weren't sure what we were supposed to do. We waited until we were called forward and were motioned to her with a nod. That's all the permission we needed. In a moment she was in our arms and in our hearts. I cannot truly describe what this moment was like, except to say that I am in love--in love with this little person who mesmerizes me and in love with Todd, who is even more than the amazing dad I knew he would be. The following pictures are from our first day with Emmaxia. Thank you for sharing our joy from across the miles!