february 11th.....

i told chris that last night, february 11th, i got to do the best thing i've ever done besides marrying him. it's a night that we will remember for the rest of our lives.....

we met our birth parents.

that line is full of so much meaning for us. it's one that really leaves me speechless (something that's hard to do for a gallerini girl). we received a call on monday night from our social worker indicating that a couple wanted to meet us. a couple who met all of the criteria that we could possibly want and that we'd expressed to our social worker but knew we'd probably have to give on a few of the items since they were pretty specific. but....god is amazing and that list wasn't too much for him and this couple just couldn't be any more perfect for us.

so......we went to meet them last night. terrifying. there is no other word to describe how the anticipation leading up to a meeting like that is......walking down the aisle-no problem, job interviews-enjoyable, gall bladder surgery-delightful, my first day of teaching ever-routine....but this was just un-real. we met with our social worker and theirs first and talked about how the conversation would go and what topics we really needed to get hammered out.......then their social worker left to go meet with them......that was an eternity of 20 minutes......

when she came to get us to bring us upstairs everything just clicked for me....it felt like this was what i was supposed to be doing, one of the things i was made for. i thought chris was going to puke right up until we walked into the room but the minute we walked through that door and saw them all of our nerves just dissolved. we knew it was "them."

we talked about a lot things for about an hour....and laughed and joked around. one of the qualities i love the most about my husband is how funny he is and how much he makes me laugh and how sarcastic he is.......our birth parents share the same qualities and it felt like we were talking to old friends. i just kept thinking that this couldn't be real....it was too good.

there is so much more that i'd love to write here.....but we feel very protective of them....and want nothing but incredible things for them.....and want to conserve their privacy.......but let me say again--they are amazing.....

we'll be seeing them again soon...getting to know them better. this adoption journey will never be over for us....but we've come to absolutely crave it and are so excited to see what else it has to offer. it has changed so many of our opinions about how adoptions work and what "normal" means and what "best for kids" means and how excited we are to build our family.

and.....that won't be far in the future.

because on march 16th....our little girl is due.