The FINAL countdown to see Olivia’s beautiful face…

Finally! Some people talk about a long physical labor, well, our labor fell more along the lines of a long “mental labor”. By the time we travel to China (March, 2008), we will have waited three years to bring our daughter home.

But God had the perfect plan for us, and He knew we could endure the pain of the wait. We are now approximately two weeks away from seeing baby Olivia’s face for the first time! The numbness is finally starting to wear off; one reason why I am blogging again (Dad D, I know that makes you happy!). After last Mother’s Day I had to let go for awhile; it was a means of survival. We are now beginning to feel waves of excitement. I write “waves” because month after month of disappointment from not being matched keeps the China adoption community quite skeptical.

However, this time is different. Why? Well, we officially became NEXT in the line of 30,000+ waiting families when they matched families with log in dates December 15-19, 2005. Leave it to our luck...we are log in date December 20, 2005! They missed us by one day!!! (Mom D, what happened to the luck of the Irish?) But that’s what makes us NEXT! There are no log in dates in between…not one, nada, zip, zero, zilch!!! They will match December 20, 2005 families in the next batch!!! That’s us!!! I can’t even believe I am writing it. Pinch us, please!!! Is it real?!

We now ask you to please pray for those with log in dates after us. We pray that they match several days beyond ours, as this wait will continue to cause heartbreak for a lot more families and children, if it continues to increase. My prayers and hopeful thoughts truly go out to everyone who is waiting. I wish I had the right words to make it all better.

Who's Olivia?

Oh my, a name change?! Well, before you think we are crazy I want you to ponder something...WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR OUR BABY GIRL FOR ALMOST 3 YEARS!!! And in 3 year’s time, a lot can change! True, the name Myah has been in our hearts for over two years, but a series of coincidences brought us to the very special name of Olivia. First, Tiffany got a gorgeous tattoo of an olive branch. The olive branch has symbolized peace for thousands of years, and for Tiffany, it symbolizes the peace she has gained in her life. A few days following the creation of her tattoo, we started talking about names, but mostly about boys’ names that we liked …it was just conversation. The next thing you know, we see a beautiful painting of the name Olivia (exactly like a painting we have of the name Myah). It was just sitting haphazardly on the counter of Best Buy. Tiffany and I both commented on it, and the next thing you know, we start talking about how much we liked it. Then Rich and I seriously began talking about changing it.

When we arrived home that night and looked up the meaning of this newly found name, we discovered Olivia means “peace” (related to the olive branch). Well, what a connection for Tiffany! Then, over the course of the next few days we began to repeatedly see and hear the name Olivia (we counted 6 times!). Maybe we were looking for it, but we don’t think so. It showed up in the strangest places! I also dug a little deeper into the history of olive trees, and guess what I found? Many researchers have discovered the first olive tree originated in Asia!!! And finally, I remembered my mom’s favorite music artist was Olivia Newton John. I have very fond memories of my mom playing her records and singing her songs. Thanks to my mom, I know ONJ”s songs by heart to this day!!! Her full name will be Olivia Sonja (given Chinese name) Davis. My mom’s name is Sonja and we should know Olivia's given Chinese name in a couple weeks!!! The name just feels right, and who knows, maybe we changed her name on the exact day we were matched with our daughter. THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!!!!