Asian Girl with Pigtails...

I couldn't believe we got the phone call a short TWO weeks after our paperwork was in!! We were expecting it to take three months...just like it did when we got Braden's referral. Nope. Two weeks after the paperwork was in I saw the caller ID. I was thinking that something must be wrong with the paperwork. When I answered the phone Kathy said, you're not going to believe it, but we have a referral for you. You are going to get a baby girl!!

I was overjoyed! But I was confused. In MY perfect plan the kids would be two years apart in school...not sure why, just wanted it that way. So my first question was, "Is her birthday before or after the cut off date?" Huh? It's October 29th...AFTER the cut off date. So they were only 18 months apart but because of her birthday they would be two years apart in school. WOW...we couldn't believe it!!

I met this amazing girl named Kinsey Metts at a retreat when I was a senior in high school. I had never heard that name before and this girl just radiated Christ's love. She was a great example and I learned a lot from her in that short weekend. I also knew then that someday I would want my Asian girl in pigtails to be named Kinsey. (I have recently re connected with Kinsey Metts on FB and told her what an inspiration she was to me 15 years ago...and told her all about my Kinsey.)

So Kinsey Adele Barbour was our latest addition! Kathy told us that she had significant birth marks or mongolian spots all over her body. She said they were on her shoulders, wrists, ankles, back, and bottom. She wanted us to see pictures before we accepted the referral...we knew it wouldn't matter but waited anyway. When we got the pictures it was obvious that our sweet girl may have to deal with being teased when she got older. Her skin was so light..but the marks were SO blue. Especially on her back and bottom...almost like a marker had been taken to them. Still...we knew she was ours. We had to sign paperwork saying that we knew about the marks and would take her...how silly is that??

We now had to wait two to three months for our sweet girl to come home. In that time we sent her care packages, prayed for her, told Braden (then almost 2) and Cailey (almost 3 1/2) all about their baby sister, Kinsey. We expected to get the travel call (to pick her up at the airport) no later than April since our referral came in January. We were really hoping to be able to pick her up in DC like last time and not have to go to NYC to get her. We were getting anxious...the end of April was almost here and there was still no call.

What was going on? Why was it taking so long? Everyday seems so long when you are waiting to pick up your baby...who you've known was your baby for three months. Who you want to see learn to crawl, get their teeth, learn to eat solids, etc.

Finally we got the call!! We were expecting to get the call and pick her up two days later. This time we had more warning...it was a Friday. We were told that our baby girl would be arriving at RDU on Wednesday, May 3! WOW...we couldn't believe she'd be coming into Raleigh...this was so much better than we expected!

The weekend seemed to take forever. Monday and Tuesday took even longer. Maybe getting an early call isn't so great afterall because it means more waiting time...more anticipation! Finally Wednesday came. It was after 9/11 so we had to get special permission to meet Kinsey and her escort at the gate. We went SUPER early thinking it would take a long time. We were wrong. We got there and had a lot of time to kill, but my sweet friend, Laura, and Rebecca were there with us. Laura watched the kids while Brian and I went up to the gate to get Kinsey. We watched EVERYONE get off the plane. Everytime there was a baby I'd get up and walk over in anticipation. Finally there was a lull and no one else was getting off the plane. We kept looking until a sweet girl with a baby strapped to her belly came off. That's when we met Kinsey. She was SO smiley and came to me immediately.

The escort was traveling to the US to go to college...at UNC. She said it had been a LONG flight...we couldn't imagine. We were just overjoyed to be holding our sweet Asian girl...who I couldn't wait to give pigtails. When we saw her hair we noticed they had shaved it for some reason...so the pigtails would have to wait:).

The car ride home was a NIGHTMARE. Kinsey hadn't ever been in a carseat before and the sweet girl just cried and cried the whole way. At home we tried to feed her to calm her down. It didn't work. Finally she just calmed down. The first few days I can remember thinking that she was just SO happy..unless we were in the car. That's pretty much the only time she cried. Braden would sit with her and lay under her hanging toys with her. He kept rubbing her arm:). Cailey wanted to kiss and kiss her. She loved showing off her new baby sister.

Kinsey fit in our family perfectly. She was our angel. Given to us by God through Brian's mom and late father.

That summer she got so tan...and her mongolian spots were barely visible on her shoulders, ankles, and wrists. As for her bottom...well...no one needs to be looking there anyway:). Interestingly though, we did get a phone call from the children's pastor at church about them. He called and said that while someone was changing her diaper they noticed the marks and were concerned about abuse (if you saw them, you'd understand). He said he knew she wasn't being abused but had to ask just in case. We let him know that we thankful that they were looking out for her but had documentation for her mongolian spots and no, she wasn't being abused. Gotta love a church that looks out for it's kids!

Four year later and we couldn't love her more. Thank you, God, for CHOOSING Kinsey to be in our family. Kinsey brings excitement and happiness all around her. She constantly makes us laugh and keeps us on our feet. She is a free spirit. She is a mama's girl. She loves playing games, singing songs, playing dress up, playing mommy, taking care of her baby brother, helping whenever needed, caring for others when they are hurting, going to Cubbies, swimming, bok bok moo, puzzles, memory, her blankie, and pretty much everything. She is almost always happy and joyful. I can't believe it's been four years since this...which still makes me cry. We love you, sweet girl. Happy 4th Gotcha Day!!

she requested "bok, bok, moo" for
breakfast

kinsey and i always have fun playing games together..
today was no different! she wanted to play pretty, pretty
princess, hi ho cherry-o, and the 'present game'. we played
others but i only took pictures of the last ones:)

snack...candy...and more candy:)
(on the special B plate, of course!)

she was hilarious when it came to dinner
and requested mac and cheese from a box, circle
shaped pizza, 'at donald's' (McDonald's), and bok,
bok moo. we convinced her she had chick fil a
for breakfast but agreed to everything else. we had
a free McDonald's apple pie in the fridge so she had that
for dessert after the other stuff:).

i think this is the last year she'll be able to wear her
hanbok!