Friday, December 22, 2006

A post that is long overdue...

Seeing how I couldn't post this back in November, I wanted to post it now. Enjoy!

Wow! It’s November 30, 2006. Just one short year ago today we drove up to the Civil Affairs building in Wuhan, Hubei in the People’s Republic of China. There we saw the most beautiful children entering at the same time. They wore matching outfits and carried glasses of juices with them. Oh how their lives were about to change.

Looking back, I realize that I had no idea as to what would happen that day. Wayne and I, Liz and Brion woke up in Beijing and would soon be taking a plane ride that would forever change our families. Until we heard “I have made an appointment at 4:00 pm to get the babies” from our guide, did we really get what was about to take place.

The only word I have to describe the feeling of seeing Julia for the first time is love. You know that feeling of your first date or when you walk down the aisle to your soon to be spouse, or maybe when you see you baby for the first time after giving birth. Here we were and it was happening again. I knew from the minute we saw her, she was ours and I would love her forever. The best part was sharing it with another family who felt just as we did. Even though both our families have older children at home, this was just as exciting as the day of birth of our bio kids. All the new parent anxieties, all the frustration of not knowing what your child really wants…all those things were present. But at the same time, Wayne and I just stared in amazement as she slept next to us. She was so beautiful. How could we have been so blessed?

As our days in China passed quickly, Julia and Isaac blended into our routines. It was hard and yet encouraging at the same time. I think we all just knew that everything would work out and that God had chosen the right children for us.


Today is a day, as well as Julia’s birthday, I think of 2 women in China that had so much to do with who Julia is and how she came to be our daughter. First, for the birth mom that placed her daughter in a place that she knew she would be found. She knew that her baby would be taken care of there. My heart aches her. If I could have just one wish, it would be to tell Julia’s birth family that she is safe and loved; that we will make sure she that she gets a good education and good medical care. You know, when I look at her smile at me, if I could just send that smile to her birth mom, because that’s her smile. And to the foster mom, we can’t possibly thank you enough for taking care of Julia. We know that you did an amazing job raising her for 2 years. Julia is a very smart and articulate girl. We believe it was all the things that you did with her that made her what she is today.

So what is life like for Julia now? Well, she loves Dora and Barbie. She loves to dance and color. She’s a very good kid who loves our family as though she’s been here forever. We still meet up with Liz and Brion. Isaac is just as cute as bug. Julia calls him “her Isaac” and likes to look at pictures of them together in China and of other times we’ve spent with him.

Our website plays the song “I knew that I loved you” by Savage Garden. For a while I thought I would change it, but really…it means so much to me and Wayne. We knew that we loved Julia before we met her and couldn’t be more grateful to God for placing the perfect child in our arms. So as you go about your day today; say a little prayer for Julia, for her birth mom and foster mom in China, and for Isaac and his family. November 30th is a special day for us.

With much love,
Melissa, Wayne, Cameron, Anna and Julia Wagner

More class pictures!

"The Boys" of Mrs. Smith's first grade. Anna likes the 2 boys on the far right. ;-)


This Anna and Sara. They both love to wear dresses!


Here are "The Boys" of Mrs. Dahringer's 3rd grade. Cam is in the white shirt on the left.


This is Damien and Cam at the party. Damien's dad works with Wayne.


Cam and Julia at Cam's party. He's such a loving big bro!

Anna's class party 2006





New Pictures!

This is me and my cousin Tom, we've been best buds since we were little


Here are the Aunties (and my Grandma)


Here are the monkies in the back of the truck before the Santa parade in Hart

WHOA! Blogger has gone whacky!!

Hey All!

For the past 8-10 weeks, I've had issues with Blogger/Blogspot. I can't seem to log in on my laptop (which is where all my pictures are). I have no idea what happened, but it won't load the log-in page. BIZARRE to say the least.

Soooo...now that we have high speed internet at our house (YES! I love you, Wayne!! Thanks so much for convincing me that we needed it!), I'm going to work on using our dinosaur desk-top machine to load some new pictures. Please be patient!!

Thanks so much and MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!