Little did I know when picking my wedding dress that it would be that hot (actually my dad picked out my dress and when I saw it, I loved it). I could have selected a different dress, but he had actually chosen a wonderful one. I'll never forget the woman sizing my wedding dress saying the marriage would never last. I could not believe she would say that. I told her that our marriage would last because we had already gone through being separated for one year with a few visits in between. I told her anyone who could go through that, could manage other things that might fall in our path. We heard this from a lot of people. Now that I look back on it, I can see why they would think that.

I was just 17 and he was 22 when we got married back in 1980, and yes, we have had some rough times with losing loved ones and the stress of Medical School, but we have had MANY years of happiness, too - and the good always outweighed the bad. Mike and I have celebrated 26 years together and this June will be our 27th. When celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary who would have ever thought we would be starting parenthood all over again. We had all three of our daughters with us and Wendy was 18-months-old at that time. It was not long after that that we decided to return to China for a 4th daughter, Mylie.

Adoption is something I wanted my parents to do. As a child, I had two older brothers but I really wanted a little sister to play with! For me, it wasn't in the cards to have a sister through adoption or any other way, but my parents did foster many children before I was born and when I was older they would take kids in for the summer from an orphanage called Christ Haven. I guess it was only natural for me to want to do this sometime down the road.

Now let me tell you how we decided about China adoption... Our older daughters were in college or about to be. Lacy was a freshman in college and Holly was a sophomore in high school. We were watching the Adoption shows on the Discovery Channel and the girls and I said that would be nice to be able to adopt. Holly (now 19-years-old), has always wanted us to adopt since she was in 3rd grade (she really was very much like me). Mike came through the house just as the show was airing and the girls asked him if we could do that. Mike paused and looked and said only if it is China, then walked out. Well, that started the whole process. We started looking up agencies and after contemplating Gladney, we decided upon Great Wall China Adoption (GWCA) since they are based in Texas and their founder is from China.

It took one year from our application being submitted in October 2003, until Beth Breedlove of GWCA sent us our referral on October 14th, 2004. It was a 6 month wait from our Log In Date (LID) which was April 28th, '04 to referral. This is a short wait compared to what we have now!

I guess it was only natural to want to go back since we love Wendy so much and really thought it only fair for her to have a sister to grow up with just like Lacy and Holly had each other.

So, now we are waiting and will be waiting for at least 7-8 months more. Our LID for Mylie is June 19th, 2006. By the time we are finished and have Mylie, it will have taken right at 2 1/2 years from start up! You can see it is a much longer process this time around, but will be worth it in the end.

Mike and I weren't ready to go through the 'empty nest' stage of life. Wendy has really been a sheer joy. She and our “bio daughters” really love each other! We are all ready for our new little one to be here!!

Come on, Mylie Camille... we want to shower you with lots of love and affection.