My Sweet Izzy

Four years ago today.  January 26, 2011
Gotcha Day.
THE most special day of my life.
Not the most important.
The most special.  By far.

She is the funniest, sweetest, bravest, most disciplined child of mine.
She is also bossy.  Irritating at times because of her ability to talk non-stop.
Other than that- she is my pure joy.  I am in complete love with this girl.

She loves "her" China.  I love "her" China.
More and more I think of her birth mother-whereas before it wasn't anything I put much thought into.  After our trip back with Lori and visiting her orphanage I think about her quite a bit.  After learning new information from her file at the orphanage, there is without a doubt in my mind she was loved very much.  And because of a difficult decision by her birth parents I am blessed abundantly.


As you can see she was trying her best to be brave about this whole thing.  She said the words, "Mama.  Baba."  And then she changed her mind.  She wasn't having any of it.  Poor girl.

We decided since it was so traumatic for her we would leave and do the paperwork later.  She literally thought she was going home.  Her orphanage home.  That's why you see no tears in the next two photos.  She agreed to let me hold her hand, carry her and sit on my lap.  I was the nice lady who gave her food and toys.  But in her mind- she didn't have to keep me.

But….as soon as we hit the hotel lobby she knew it was not where she was supposed to be.  A meltdown occurred.  We quickly made it to our hotel room where she cried hard for a good 20 minutes.  It was the turning point for her.  She had decided to go with it.  While Trey was a fun GeGe and BaBa was pretty much the pack mule (per her orders), I was her lifeboat.  I happily carried around that bossy, 33 pound, 5 1/2 year old.  And after waiting 4 1/2 years for a healthy 2 year old, then deciding to switch to an older special needs child…..I shudder to think that I could have missed out on this.  God definitely chose her for our family.  She was meant to be mine.  She is my mini me.

All of these were taken just a few hours later.

Us together in her beloved China.  November 2013

Happy Gotcha Day, my sweet Izzy!