Happy anniversary, Ellie-Kate!!

Three years ago today, Roger and I went up to a specialist with the International Adoption Clinic at Nationwide Children's Hospital for a consultation about a beautiful baby girl on the special needs list. The list identified her as "Kristin;" the scant medical paperwork from China referred to her as An Yu Fang; we didn't know if we could call her our daughter yet or not. Hole in her heart? Not a big deal, according to the doctor... Spinal Bifida Occulta? Not a big deal, according to the doctor, pointing to how well that she held her head up in the pictures. We started to get excited, but probed "what about her legs?" Dislocated hips can be healed through natural or surgical means, the doctor replied. In other words, she could be... fine? With the doctor's reassurance, we only had to glance at each other for a minute after leaving his office before racing to get service and call the adoption agency. Unfortunately, we called slightly after 5:30, and the agency was closed for the day. We left the message that we wanted to "lock" on our baby, but we had to pray and hope that no one else in the entire world would claim her before our adoption office could log the paperwork. We would have to wait until 7:30 a.m. on the next morning before receiving the official word that this little baby-- "Kristin" or "An Yu Fang" would soon be "Ellie-Kate Beck-Aden." Praise God for the services at Children's and praise God that no one else got to our perfect little baby first. Happy anniversary of a very special day, Ellie-Kate!!

Love,

Mommy