Introducing.......OUR SON MATTHEW!!!!

This was Matthew's Referral picture where we first fell in love with him and knew he was OUR son!!!

Well, this is the day that Chris and I have been waiting for - 96 LONG days to wait for our official referral acceptance/letter of acceptance from China! Strange as it it, Chris and I were talking last night about everything, and he told me he had a huge feeling that today was the day! We prayed last night, and even were chatting about everything this morning and Chris left for work telling me - today's the day! Well, he was right!

At 10:39AM, my phone rang and it was Addie from our adoption agency. She asked me if I was sitting down, and I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Could this be THE CALL we had been waiting so long for??? Surely, it was! I quickly hung up the phone with her, standing there shaking, and called Chris. He couldn't believe it either, and within 15 minutes I was in the car on the PA turnpike headed to our agency to pick up our letter. I could not wait until tomorrow to get it in the mail, and I wanted it back to China as soon as possible!!! When I got to the agency, the letter was handed to me and I just lost it. I couldn't believe our names were on this official piece of paper with a big red stamp from China. I got back in the car, and drove an hour and a half back to Chris's work, where he signed the paper, then I raced off to the UPS store to overnight it back to our agency so it could be sent out to China TOMORROW!!!! Now, we just await our travel approval, and we should be heading to China the end of January is everything works out!

I cannot tell you the relief and excitement that Chris and I feel right now. Matthew is OURS, and we are going to get him soon! Wow, I think we are still floating on air! It's just the happiest moment - even better than seeing his precious face for the first time!!!

So......what you all have been waiting for! His Chinese name was Miao Tie Jun, and we are going to call him Matthew Christopher! He is now 20 months old, and our newest information on him from last week is that he weighs a little over 26 pounds, is 31.5 inches, his feet are 5.25 inches, and he has 14 teeth!!!!

We are completely over the moon to share this with everyone. Someone else described this journey as the ride of a lifetime and that is certainly what this is! Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement especially these past few weeks that have been so hard for us waiting! God has answered them, as we are officially Matthew's parents!!!!

Enjoy the pictures!!!!