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Today I am so incredibly thankful for being given the privilege of meeting our precious Annie on this day one year ago. It was amazing to finally have her in our arms and be able to kiss on her cheeks and those beautiful lips of hers. She was very calm the entire time we were at our orphanage visit. We later figured out a lot of the reasons why she probably acted the way that she did. She was sick and she was used to having to pretty much fend for herself. She sat quietly in our laps while we were there. She let us snuggle and love on her. She drifted off to sleep and was laid in her crib. After a while, I couldn't stand it any more so I just picked her up and held her while she slept. She was sweating bullets while she slept (which she still does) because she had on a really hot fleece sleeper even though it was very warm outside. Her skin was a mess. She was covered in bites and scars from bites. She was very small. Much smaller than we were expecting. When we traveled, she was 7.5 months old and she weighed 14 lbs. She was so short - still is. She was clearly scared, but wasn't sure how to show that. It was like she was hiding in a little shell that she had built around herself.

Meeting your child for the first time is such a huge event, and you want to think that everything is just perfect. It was when we traveled for Lucy, so why wouldn't it be again. The girls are from the same orphanage, so we just kind of assumed that Annie had been loved on the same way that Lucy had been. Justin pointed out several things that were strange to him about our time at the orphanage. At that time, I just blocked it all out and wanted to believe that it was perfect, but you know right away, even if I didn't want to admit it at the time, that something wasn't right. I was so sad that we had to wait a full day in between our visit and our G&R. I just wanted her with us right away. She needed us and we needed her.

We will obviously never know what Annie's life was like before us. We only have assumptions based on all of the signs that she showed us and how the nannies acted towards her when we were seeing them around her and the other babies. What I know for sure is that meeting her and then becoming her family 1.5 days later was one of the most wonderful moments of our lives. No matter how sad or mad I am over how she was cared for before us, it all melts away because we are the lucky ones. Any nanny that has been in her life prior to us that missed out on seeing that because she was probably a very difficult baby has missed out on really knowing one of the most amazing souls. We are the ones that have gotten to watch her blossom into the amazing little person that she is and always has been. All she needed was the love that comes from being with a family that loves her no matter what. No matter how many hours a day she spends crying. No matter how difficult she was to feed. No matter how resistant she was to being held or shown affection towards. She needed consistency. She needed to learn that we were ALWAYS going to be there for her. She needed lots and lots of love and she has so much love to give back.

Annie truly is a child that touches the lives of everyone she meets. She leaves such a positive impact on people. She draws people in. People want to be near her and love on her. She is such a lover. She wants to make people happy. She will flash her million dollar grin and you just melt. Every time. Every single time. She giggles and runs and jumps. She is curious about everything. She thinks that she should touch everything and she wants to share her finds with you. She is a snuggler. I mean a real snuggler. She has her head resting on my shoulder much of the day. She loves to give kisses and be kissed. She loves to hug. She loves to mother her babies and nuzzle her blankies. She wants to do everything that Lucy does. She loves animals and wants to literally kiss them all. It may have taken us a while to get to see all of this, but it was so worth every bump in the road to get here. She is our perfect little Anners Bananners and getting to finally meet her was one of the most special days in our lives. I will never, ever forget it and I thank God every single day for making that happen.

I also want to point out how amazing Lucy was the entire time we were in Vietnam. It was not an easy trip at all, but other than one major meltdown, she was a dream. She was so, so, so good and it was like she just understood how much Annie needed us. I always tell people when I talk about our time in Vietnam that God knew we were pushed to our absolute limits on that trip and He just took care of Lucy. I have never been so proud of her as I was on that trip and how she handled it.


Then.........
Our very first glimpse of Annie.
















And now......