We First Saw His Face.....

A year ago, we first saw his face, our Luke's sweet face, that is. 

It's so hard to believe that it was a year ago that we fell in love with that face, and it seemed like forever then until we could bring him home and cover him with hugs and kisses. 

Sometimes we look at him now, and can't hardly believe that we have him with us.  It just seems like such a miracle and although people say Luke's blessed to be in our family, the truth is that we are the ones that feel blessed. 

Has it been easy or perfect?  Definitely not.  We can tell we're older this go around with a 2 year old.  There have been different issues with his adjusting and us doing whatever it takes to make sure he feels secure, as well as us just finding a new normal.  But then one little hug or kiss with a "I lub you mama", and it's hard to remember all of the trials.  

Last year this time, we were praying for him and now he's praying with us!  He likes to pull us together and (sort of) bow his head,kind of leaving one eye open while he prays about every English word he can think of.  He doesn't like to be left out or leave anyone or anything out of a prayer.  :) 

Just this past weekend, I took him to the bathroom, and while we were in there, he said, "Mama, you are SO cute." (imagine him saying it very quickly up to the so and holding the SO out a just a bit).  Do you have any idea how that melted my heart?   I guess he's heard that from us a little often?  :)

Last year on this day, October 19th, as we were getting ready to go out for dinner, the phone rang.  It was Xiaoqing, the wonderful China SNs adoption coordinator of BAAS, with Luke's referral.  We had her lock his file that night while we reviewed it and consulted the medical issues with doctors.  Two days later, we sent in our Letter of Intent to adopt (LOI) and just 6 days later, we received our Pre-adoption Approval (PA).  That was when we were able to share his picture with you all and boy were we thrilled!  And tomorrow will be the anniversary of the day we met him face to face in Hohhot, China for our Forever Family Day.  Four months tomorrow was the day.......June 20th (Father's Day).  Can you believe he's been home with us four months already?

If you'd like to read (or re-read) the story of how we knew he was ours, you can click here.

I'm thanking God today that he chose to bring Luke into our family and that he entrusted us with this precious little boy, who makes us laugh everyday and covers us with hugs and kisses.  :)