Introducing Our Beautiful Little Girl!

After 5 years of waiting, we have just seen our daughter's face for the first time. It has been a long wait....But really, it hasn't been a "wait". We have longed for Emma for 6 years. She has been in our hearts and our prayers daily. But in the last five years, life has been enriched with adventure, challenges and changes, travels and more. In the last five years, we have had the privilege of living in some pretty incredible places. I always dreamed of living in England. We did that. I needed a change from the life of a boarding school teacher and we left our careers and stuff and moved to the Caribbean. We took on life in the city of NYC for a couple of years and learned we could not only survive the city, but fall in love with it. Yes, we have longed for Emma for 5 years. And each night for those five years, my daughter has prayed for her sister and wondered what she will be like. Five Christmases have come and gone with thoughts and hops that the next Christmas we would share with her. Never far from our hearts...But in the "waiting" we didn't waste away the present. And now, at the end of one journey through medical school and all our travels, we prepare to start a new chapter. A new turn in the road that takes us to the next step in Matt's career, a new place to call home, and finally, our Emma. Finally.

And the phone rang. Today. Just when I said, "why haven't they ..." They called. The phone rang and I was overcome with joy. All my thoughts and words escaped me completely. I don't know what I asked, what I said. My husband and Graceanna came running across the room. We gathered around the phone with our video camera running and met our long adored, long sought after daughter and Graceanna's long awaited, long prayed for little sister.

So, we would like to introduce to you our daughter:

Emmalyn LeRea Yuan Zhi

Yuan Zhi
means source or spring of peace and noble flower.

10 months old from Hunan Province, the province of our sweet Graceanna.

And we are in love.