In EmmeClaire’s paperwork we received, there was some information, which provided us a small glimpse into her personality, likes/dislikes, etc.

-EmmeClaire Mengjie (Dang Meng Jie) was born April 28, 2012. (Another family member born in April!!)

-EmmeClaire likes to cuddle and always wants attention from her caretaker. (This could be an interesting competition in our house!)

-EmmeClaire likes to play games and gets along well with other children. (Perfect….we have a very “energetic” playmate waiting for her!)

-EmmeClaire responds with smiles when spoken to.

-And my favorite – EmmeClaire is impatient. (Ummm…yeah….WHO isn’t?)

The story of EmmeClaire began almost 6 years ago when we first began discussing adoption. We researched and discussed countries and agencies. In the fall of 2006 we decided on our agency choice and the country that we would travel to meet our child, which at the time we thought would be our first. Our paper work was officially logged in on March 6, 2007. That same day back home we were celebrating the birth of the first grandchild on my side, Cora. Then the wait began. During the first year the quoted wait time went from 12 months to 18 months….to after the Beijing Olympics to after the US presidential election (as in 2008). When the wait to China seemed to be an endless road, we again began researching options. We did NOT want to give up on our daughter in China but felt someone was waiting for us somewhere else in the meantime. That “somewhere else” was Kazakhstan and that “someone” was EmmeClaire’s big brother, Adam James Alibek.

After waiting more than 5 ½ years “the call” finally came late on April 16, 2012. Around 11:15 PM that evening our agency called the house phone. I, of course, was conked out in Adam’s bed after falling asleep reading 230+ books to Adam. Jim came to wake me up and mouthed, “It is EAC….” and ushered me down the hall to another phone. Nothing, not even years, quite prepares you for that moment. We listened as she was described to us. The whole time I kept thinking, “This could be our daughter….” A couple times I wondered if I was in fact still asleep – was this really FINALLY happening? After agreeing that we did in fact want to see all the information and her pictures, we had to wait for the agency to get the papers ready to send to us via email. Pushing refresh over and over we waited…staring at our computers. The email arrived in our inbox about 45 minutes later - on the 17th (Aunt Jill’s birthday)…..but of course nothing is that easy on the road of adoption. Agreeing that this referral would be kept top secret (of which neither of us were 100% good about) we had to wait another 5 weeks for updated information. The updated information finally came and with it 4 pictures. One picture in particular clinched it for both of us. The caption above her head would have read, “Look out big brother Adam…..you have met your match!” Something had changed – the feeling of “What do we need to know about this child?” to “How fast can we get her home to her family and start helping her catch up on what she has missed out on during the first year of life?” Two days later we told big brother about his new sister and signed our LOA.

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. ~An ancient Chinese belief