THE TRUTH IS....PART 2


THE DAY WE WERE BLESSED WITH OUR FRANCESKA DANIELLE


On the evening of July 3rd, as we were preparing to leave Beijing bright and early the
next morning to Nanchang , Frank went out to bring something to eat back to the room,
so weepy. I couldn't get my sisters to answer their phones or any of the kids, but
who I really wanted to speak to was my parents....my daddy. All of you know my
momma cannot speak on the phone anymore, although we tried but it just doesn't
happen anymore. When I called my mom and dads house I got the lady who sits
with our mom when my daddy has things to do. My daddy was helping his brother,
my Uncle Freddy and my sister Kerry, the girls, and Astrud were at the lake for the
4th of July and my other sister Kim was working. When the lady answered the phone
it was so hard to talk because I had a lump the size of China in my throat ....I just
needed to let the floodgates open but I told her it was me and she was so sorry
but I had missed my daddy by about ten minutes!! Here I am in my hotel room, feeling
very homesick, very "neglected", you know like my family should have all stayed home
just waiting for my phone call!!! LOL! And if I would have gotten to talk to my daddy anyway
it would have been horrible, I would have started crying like a big old baby, it would
have made him feel horrible because he knows I need to talk to my momma, he would
have started crying then I would have cried harder......you get the picture right. So
God knew exactly what needed to happen.

So Frank walks in the door with something for dinner and I know he was thinking, oh gosh
she is freaking out or something, but I ended up putting my big girl panties on , we ate
went to sleep. Neither one of us slept that much. I think we needed to have our bags
in the hallway and be ready to leave for the airport at like 4:00 am or something like
that.

July 4, 2010

So we all got out the door and to the airport, all of us just kept looking at each
other with these faces of anticipation , all we could do was smile at each other.
And as all of you know I am a crier so it was best to keep my mouth shut!!
We flew into Nanchang, and after we arrived we had a pretty good ride to the
hotel. It was pretty eye opening. There are so many people that have been
to China and back that I know that say they loved Nanchang. I didn't but you
have to remember it was the dead heat of summer and from what we could tell
every male person from the age of about 11 to 100 smokes, they smoke in hotels,
in the elevators, at your breakfast, lunch or dinner table, everywhere you look!
So my throat was raw the whole time we were there, I guess because of the smoke
and the ventilation systems and a/c are not really good. But none of that mattered
to me or Frank , we were there for one reason and one reason only. Our guide
Michelle which I must say was absolutely PERFECT had told us that around 3:00
that afternoon our babies would be in the hotel lobby. We did some group touring
and then we got back to our room, I think at about 1:00 to cool down, clean up
and get ready. First I have to tell you when we actually arrived in Nanchang
and went up to our room for the first time it was amazing when we opened the
door and saw the crib in our room!

It just made it so real, one would think that after almost five years that real feeling would just naturally happen....well I think for most people you are just waiting for that other shoe to drop, for some other government official to tell you to jump thru another hoop, so yes
that crib made it real!!! So I put her things in it , got all ready for her and
to our surprise at 2:30 Michelle called our room and told us that our baby was
HERE! I looked at Frank and told him that I would not start crying now, and all
we could do was look at each other, I started shaking, we kissed each other,
and headed for the elevator. As I am typing this I have the same exact feeling
I had that day. When we came out of the elevator, you turn a corner and as
we took the two steps down .....THERE SHE WAS, we knew her immediately!!
She was sitting on a nannies lap so calm and peaceful, she looked sleepy and oh
so tiny!! All I could think was , Thank you God, oh thank you God for loving me
the way you do, for giving me this gift. And just like that a calm feeling came
over me , I was very anxious , but I was not sobbing. I grabbed Frank and said
look babe, there she is. He said I know babe! Oh gosh just look at her! We
thought she was a million more times beautiful than her picture. I always had
this fear of not knowing her when I saw her and my sister Kerry told me , yes
you will! And I did!

We were second in line, when our turn came , they ask you your name and your
baby's name and just like that the nannie walked over to me and handed me our
baby. She immediately laid her head on my shoulder , we were a perfect fit!
I looked over at Frank and I will never forget the look on his face, it was a look
of complete content. And my immediate thought was , WOW he has everything
Kellie is back in our life, not only her but a wonderful soninlaw and two grandsons
with another on the way and now he has Franceska, I just kept thinking how our
wedding rings , the circle had closed, our hearts were red, full and pumping
gloriously! And all of that glory goes straight to HIM up there!!! Straight to
our Lord!






We stayed downstairs in the lobby for a while , but honestly I just could not
wait to get her up to our room, to be alone with her, just us three!
Her daddy took her, held her , loved on her , showed her off , gave her back to mommy
and we headed up to our room. When we got there the first thing I did was
make her a bottle, I sat down in the chair and from the first bottle her and
I made eye contact. She knew she just knew I was her mommy. Frank had
the camera to capture the first time I ever fed her and he told me, look how
she knows us babe. I said I know ,is this just too perfect , should I be scared?
And he told me no, because for the longest time I have been praying that the
Holy spirit would introduce us to each other and my prayer was answered. And
from that moment on she was a changed baby. Her personality just exploded out
of her,our whole travel group tagged her as the 'HAPPY BABY".................






She wanted both of us all the time, of course Mommy was the one she
did not want out of her sight , but her daddy had complete equal billing. She
loves us is all I could say! Any of you who know me personally know that it did
not take long for me to get her cleaned up , fingers and toes counted, dressed
up with a bow to top it off on that perfect little tiny head!
And from that moment on our lives have never been the same!!(After about 2 hours this is what we got from then till now)



We thank God every day for incredible blessing. She is loved by so many , so loved! We still cannot go tothe store in our hometown and not have her treated like a Rock Star! Peoplejust randomly come up to us, football games if I walk around I never get back to our seats, anywhere we go people want to meet Franceska. She is a feisty
stubborn, spoiled rotten , beautiful, rambunctious , can drive her mommy crazy,
hurt her big sissy's feelings, did I say stubborn, knows what she wants and don't
want , has her Daddy, brothers, Uncle's, Aunt's , cousins, Poppy, Grandma, and friends just everybody wrapped around her finger kind of girl!

And we can't even remember our lives before she was there! She is a sponge
for learning, she walked on November 28th the day we had her dedicated at
church really good for the first time, she will now repeat anything you tell
her to say in the cutest little voice ever! She is so smart and we look so forward
to see what the future holds for us, we can't wait to see what God has planned
for her!

As for the trip to China, no I was not crazy about China, Frank liked it and hopes
to go back one day, but to be fair , there was so much going on with me health
wise (hormones) and it was so hot that I do think that if we had been there during the
winter my outlook would have been better....alot better! But I do know that it was
all in God's perfect timing and to those of you still waiting.....hold on your perfect
plan will be revealed and I promise you it will be ever so sweet......we pray daily
for each of you and for each of your babies.

There are a few people that were in our travel group well more than a few that
we hope to be lifelong friends with, we shared a day together that tops no other
and that is a bond that is so strong. So if any of you are reading this and I
know you will know who you are, thank you for sharing your family with us, you
are our family and we love you!

As for all of you who have followed our journey thank you for being so loyal, thank
you for your support and love. Now the real journey has started and I hope you
are here for as long as we are ! Thank you to all of you. God has blessed
me beyond belief on this journey and I will be forever grateful!

While we were in Guangzhou we got a phone call from our son Christopher and
DIL Amy telling us that they were pregnant, so now our family stands as is....

Daughters Chastity, Astrud, Franceska, Kellie, husband Jon, 2nd grandbutton Liam,
3rd grandbutton Rory and 4th grandbutton just born on 12/27 Avry.

Sons, Craig and fiancee Traci, Steven (Bubba) and wife Megan,
Christopher, wife Amy, 1st grandbutton Joshua, with our first
girl grandbutton JulieAnne coming 2/22!!!!

Yes at our dinner table that would make 18!!!! OUR CUP RUNNETH OVER!!!!
(19 with Astruds boyfriend Anthony)

p.s. Thank you God so much for giving me and Franceska the moments
with my momma, her Nonny that you give us everyday. Your love and
your Godwinks amaze me always!


p.s.s. I hope all of you enjoy the pictures, I tried my best to pick the ones that depicted what part of the story I was telling, it was so hard to pick because I took over 3000 pictures over there!!! And I really don't know why my sentences are all cockeyed, I tried to fix them but everytime I did , it still came out this way.....sorry