She's Ours! Thank You God!

We are ecstatic to announce that Diamond is now "Miss V" of the B family!

The Ethiopian Court granted our adoption today. The precious baby girl who found a permanent place in our hearts on September 22 will from this day forward legally be our daughter.

We are thrilled that God has blessed us with the privilege of parenting another little girl. We look forward to hearing her laughter echo in our home, kissing her boo-boos, drying her tears. We hope to have the joy of watching her take her first steps, teaching her to ride a bicycle, ride a pony, do the Gator Chomp, and catch a fish--to watch her take her first steps, help her into her backpack on her first day of kindergarten, intimidate her boyfriends, and walk her down the aisle when she marries--to help her identify her passions and support her as she pursues her dreams, no matter how big or small.

Miss V will also forever be the child of her birth family, to whom we will always be indebted for the joy she brings us. While we wish we knew more about them--especially her mother--or that we might have had the opportunity to write them a letter or meet them, they made the decision to relinquish her anonymously. How brave. We are saddened to think that they will always wonder where she is and who is raising her--oh, how we wish we could communicate to them the depth of our love for this baby girl!

And though she will forever have a connection to two families on earth, she is first and foremost a Child of God. The sacrifice of our daughter’s birth family to bless us with the joy of raising their child--and to bless their child with a better life than they believed they could offer her--is outweighed only by the sacrifice made by our Heavenly Father so that we and Miss V might have a personal relationship and eternal life with Him. Adoption is a perfect picture of what God has done for each of us in making us His children through Christ. Our biggest responsibility as Miss V's parents will be to raise her to know God’s love and to know the joy of living her life intimately with Him.

Our agency rules prohibit us from posting pictures until she's actually in our arms, so we will have to leave you with another teaser--a peek at the big brown eyes we'll soon be gazing into:
Thank You God! We give You all the glory!

Happy Thanksgiving!