Ok, about the name...

Will and I spent the last week debating about our little girl's name. Some of you know that we had been calling her Kiera for the past year and I have been journaling to her, calling her Kiera. For those of you who don't know, Kiera is Gaelic (spelled Ciara in Gaelic) for someone with dark eyes and hair. When St. Therese stepped in and interceded for us, we thought we would call her Rose, as she is our Rose that St. Therese sent us. But I started feeling really icky about it since I had been calling her Kiera for over a year. I didn't think that St. Therese would like a mommy to be sad about the name she gives her little girl.

So Kiera it is, with Rose as her middle name. Isn't that pretty? Kiera Rose.

AND WE REALLY REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME! REALLY!!

Rose Therese O'Brien

Why this was a miracle.

Our log-in date was 9-10-05 and the cut-off date for this batch of referrals was 9-8-05, so there is no reason why we should have gotten a referral this month. We should have gotten ours at the end of December, which would be really bad because we would have to start all over again with our US immigration approval and we would not be traveling until after the Chinese New Year which is in February!!

So the only way this could have happened is by Divine intervention. For those of you who don't know, our family has a serious devotion to St. Therese. Therese was my Confirmation name, our home school is named after her...heck our license plate says LITLFLWR! So when we thought we were in danger of missing this referral batch, we started a novena to St. Therese. When Thursday morning came and the CCAA website told us that we had missed the cut-off date, the kids and I were kind of sad, mad, disappointed, and we decided that we didn't need to continue our novena. I thought that we had been denied.

However, when our social worker told me our daughter's Chinese name, I realized just how wrong I had been to doubt the Little Flower and her influence in Heaven. Our baby's name is Qing Ju which Michele told me translates to "some kind of little flower, like a chrysanthemum."

Now I have often complained that I've never gotten roses from St. Therese after a novena. Other people I know smell roses or get bouquets of roses. Sometimes even in the color they ask for! But she did one better for me... she sent me a little girl.

So even though we have planned for over a year to call her Kiera, there is only one name we can give her...Rose.

We Have a Baby!!

Finally, twenty months since we bagan this process, the day we have been waiting for has arrived. We received our referral last night by phone and we are now waiting for the FedEx Package to arrive that will show us our new daughter's face for the first time. We have to hurry up and sign something that says that we would like to accept her (like we DON'T want her!) and then we wait for travel approval. We hope to travel to China in January, but we won't know that for a while.

Here's what we know about her so far: She was born in April, 2006 (so she's tiny baby). The doctor's examine was written in August, and at that time she was about 24 in., 13 pounds, healthy and the best part : Likes to be Held!! She also laughs, makes some vowel sounds and likes music (just like her momma!) So far she sounds like a great baby, and we definately want her. :)