Destiny, Fate...The Red Thread

“An Invisible Red Thread connects those who are destined to meet,

Regardless of time, place or circumstance.

The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."

(Ancient Chinese Legend)

On April 28, 2010, a little girl was born in Nanyang, China.  Days after birth, this sweet little girl became another “lost daughter” of China.  For 17 months, this lost daughter waited to find her very own Mommy and Daddy and her red thread began it’s journey to connect her with her forever family.  On September 26, 2011, little Chun Mei was born into our hearts and into our family as we held her in our arms for the first time.  On Thursday, October 13, 2011, her thread stretched and stretched, bringing her forever home—home to America and forever home with her family. 

...Our 15 hour flight home last Thursday was surprisingly pleasant as our sweet cakes slept the majority of the flight and Mr. Liam sat back, relaxed, and watched movie after movie in his private little “cot”, with his own television all to himself.  Ben and I didn’t sleep more than a couple hours as we were both worried about Amelia waking up or rolling right off her very own Cathay Pacific recliner seat J.  Whenever she did wake up, we would cuddle her and soothe her back to sleep – it was so cute seeing her and Ben snuggle together on the plane.

Our homecoming was one we will never forget!  Let me just say it now…we have the most amazing family in the world and we could not be more grateful for all the love and support we have received!  Liam and Amelia’s Mimi (my mom) and Nana (Ben’s Mom), along with my Aunts and Uncle, were all at the airport to greet us, with hands full of balloons and arms ready for hugs and kisses from their very own Liam and Amelia Mei. 

We arrived to our home to see it decorated, symbolizing the red thread legend, with red bows around the trees, red streamers throughout the house and a beautiful sign in the yard welcoming Amelia Mei home.  My Mom put this all together-- it just brought tears to my eyes to pull up to our house with Amelia for the first time.  Amelia has gotten a kick out of seeing the sign in the yard and she went up to it and started hugging it and playing peek-a-boo behind it. 

At our home, our family welcomed us with a beautiful cake and food and with so much excitement and love!  Amelia was just smitten by her Mimi, Nana and Great Aunts.  She was so friendly, smiley and affectionate with everyone and it was obvious she was eating up all the attention!  She would take turns sharing her toys with everyone…she’d walk up to each person, hand them her doll, want them to hug the doll and then on to the next person she went.  She loved seeing her new room and we had fun playing peek-a-boo with her in the crib.  My Aunt read her a book and she was giggling the whole way through.  Within just an hour, it felt as though Amelia Mei had been with our family all along!  Our Aunts are throwing us a welcome home party next weekend…so we are just overwhelmed by all the love and support and we just thank our families from the bottom of our hearts for making Amelia’s homecoming so special!

Amelia is adjusting so well to her new home and new surroundings.  Having Amelia home has just brought a whole new level of JOY to our family and to our home!  She has had so much fun exploring and she especially loves her new playroom that is full of toys, dolls and all kinds of fun things.  Seeing her walk around the house is sometimes surreal, but yet feels so natural with this life, this home, being the place she has always belonged!  We have also enjoyed the company and well wishes of cousins, and many friends and visitors.  It’s been so fun introducing her to the people that will be such a special part of her life in the months and years ahead!!!!

We have also been so touched by all of the support we have received from Liam’s school and teachers.  Throughout our stay in China, Liam’s teacher shared the blog with the class throughout the weeks and all of his classmates have been so excited to hear about Liam and his baby sister.  They’ve all been telling their parents about Liam, so he’s been Mr. Popular without even being in class – too cute!  The teachers at his school were so excited to have Liam back at school, as were his friends, and they were in awe over seeing Amelia for the first time.  Liam loooooves being back at school and although he won’t admit it, he loves the fact that Amelia misses him so much when he’s gone.  After school, Liam will ask, “Did Amelia cry while I was gone?”.  The other day while driving in the car, Liam said out of the blue, “I love you Mama, I love you Amelia, so much.”  Oh my heart!!!  When we pick Liam up from school, Amelia’s face just lights up and she’ll reach for him.  In the car, Liam will make her giggle by doing silly things…I need to really make an effort to keep my eyes on the road as opposed to on my two children who are making me laugh and making my heart melt!

All else is going smoothly with our transition back home, with the exception of sleep, or should I say, *lack* of sleep!  The first several nights, Amelia was up from midnight to 5am crying on and off.   After about three sleepless nights, we had her sleep in the bed with us and although she slept much better, things did not improve in the sleep department for Mommy and Daddy…especially because Liam has wanted to sleep in our room too!  We know she has so much going on with jet lag, new surroundings and so many changes.  Hopefully as she gets more comfortable, we’ll have her sleeping in her crib, but for now, we’ll do whatever it takes. 

With being home for one week, we have just gotten a taste of what life will now be like with Amelia, with two precious children, life as a family of four…and oh how we love this life!  Seeing the faces of our son and daughter each morning has brought such a bright start to each day and putting both kids to bed, having “family cuddle” time, have put such a sweet end to each night.  I often catch myself looking into the eyes of our sweet little girl with the wonder of how we got so lucky, so blessed, to have found the perfect daughter whom fits so perfectly into our family, into our home, into our lives.  When I think of the life’s events and circumstances over the course of the past 5 years, each leading our family to this one special girl, I can’t help but think of the red thread.   Destiny, fate, the red thread…however you look at it, one thing is for sure--a miraculous connection was made--for our sweet daughter, this thread has found her family, it has brought her home, and it will continue to connect her to all those special people she is destined to know and love along her road of life!