Two years ago I told the infertility clinic IF I got my period by 4-24-05 , my 41st birthday, my ovaries were going into retirement! Well the joke was on me when I got my period that very day! Whoever does not believe that God has a sense of humor does not know God! I remember feeling almost relieved so I could wholeheartedly pursue my hearts desire, adoption from China!

I guess I knew from the day God called Jeff to China, that the story would end this way for our family anyway. Not sure why we bothered with the shots, the drama, etc.... Really, it was the best birthday present ever!!

Fast forward two years, to this past Tuesday, 4-24-07... The day started out perfectly. At 5:30am precious Ainsley woke me up, whispering "Happy Birthday Mama.. I love you!" Then 4 hours later my wonderful BSF group gave me a surprise shower, and birthday cake.. And, less than 8 hours later I am sitting in Jeff's office on a 2 hour conference call with America World's Travel Group #124, getting de-briefed on what we need to know before we arrive in China! Red thread? I would say so! So, to stay with the red theme, my lovely family presented me with my very own (or should I say Ruby's very own) "Ruby Red Bumble Ride Stroller" for my birthday present! Love it!!!!

I got to close my perfect birthday day with dinner with the entire Edwards Family, Jeff & Ainsley. My favorite memory besides the "Ruby Red Bumbleride" will be my precious tenors (Dad and Mark) serenading me with their beautiful Happy Birthday song! A priceless gift!

And the photo attached here, was taken by our budding photographer, Ainsley Kathryn!

So, Chapter 43, is really another beginning for me. A beautiful baby girl is waiting for her Mama

to bring her home! I may look 50 shortly, but for now I feel like I am 23! I am so excited to be a Mama again! Five more full days to pull it all together! Can't wait!

Happy Easter!

Tomorrow we hope to have word that we will finally be holding Ruby Mei on May 8th! We have reason to believe that our Consulate Appointment arrived on Friday when AWAA's offices were closed.

On faith that it will happen we booked plane tickets that have us arriving in Beijing on May 3rd and departing Guongzhou on May 17th. We should be able to finalize all of the travel details tomorrow!

Hopefully our next post will have us in official countdown to China mode!!!

Blessings to you and your families on this very special day!

-Diana, Jeff & Ainsley

March 13th was our two year anniversary of being called to this awesome adoption journey!
It was also the day that we hoped to finalize our new daughter's name.

Some families easily name their adopted and biological children before delivery, or in this case before referral. We did this with our precious Ainsley Kathryn. When I was five months pregnant we fell in love with what would be her name. However, this time around after spreadsheets of names, we decided to wait until we knew who she was. We had hoped her Chinese name would inspire her American name. Well, that is exactly what happened.
On referral day, we found out her name was Yue Meng Ru. Immediately I fell in love with her middle name Ru! In fact we are guessing that she is called Ru or Meng Ru, or Ru Ru today.
During our wait, I had followed families with daughters nick named Lu Lu, Chu Chu, Li Li, etc.. I loved how cute they all were! So, God gives us Ru! and I am overjoyed and then obsessed with incorporating Ru somehow. A good friend of mine reminds me that Ruby is the birthstone for July. That was all it took for me, and I was in love with the name Ruby. Next while Jeff was out of town, I started looking at middle names to go with Ruby. I came upon Mei which means "Beautiful" in Chinese! It seemed so simple to me, she had to be Ruby Mei! Well, since I was one of three votes in our family, I had to get the rest of the crew on board. Ru's Daddy needed more to go on. He wanted to see Ru's translated biography before we made any decisions.
So, on Tuesday, March 13th we recieved Ru's bio. And there it was in black and white!! Someone very important in Ru's life had the name of Mei! God had answered our prayers again and He gave us her name!!!! What else could it be but....