Dear Charlotte

Dear Charlotte,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         When I rocked you to sleep tonight and looked into your beautiful brown eyes, I couldn't help but wonder...Did your birth mother look into these same beautiful brown eyes?   Or were you wisked away when they saw your cleft lip & palate, to be found by the nanny of the orphanage on that cold, early November morning? Did she wonder where you are right now?  Did your foster mother (your 2nd mama) lovingly take care of you? Did she teach you to spit shine the furniture as you showed us today? :) Is she missing you right now? I pray both of these first mamas in your life will be able to find peace in the role they played in your life.I sit here in Lanzhou, China the closest I will probably ever be to these 2 important women in your life and in a way it makes me sad to leave Lanzhou tomorrow. Going to Guangzhou is one step closer to home and our boys (your guo guos) but, it is one step away from everything you have ever known.

 I am your 3rd mama, your forever and ever mama and I pray I can be all you need me to be and more. This journey to you has been one of the best things to ever happen to me and I hope one day you will realize how much your 3 mamas have loved you.... 1 enough to give you up, 1 enough to care for you for almost 2 years and 1 enough to love you through anything that might come our way.  It was God's plan all along that on November 20th, 2011 that you would become our daughter and we love you very, very much!

Love, your forever & ever mama