OMG, Hit by a br...SIGN

This part gets exciting!!

 I was instructed that I could pick an agency that works in eastern Europe and get matched with a child, or I could find one of the children online, inquire about them and then go with the agency that they are affiliated through. I had no idea what to do. So again, I prayed that God give me a sign, something that would be undeniable, I did not want to mess this up!! Who hasn't heard adoption horror stories, right?

 I had heard of All God's Children, so I contacted them and we talked to the nicest person. I could really have worked with her! The next day I got an email from Little Miracles whom I also spoke to. Andrea was so nice also and very helpful and provided us with so much information that was so very needed at that time!

 That was when I saw "Amanda" on Rainbow Kids. She was born in 2010 and she was in Eastern Europe. Since I knew we could only consider one country I filled out the small inquiry section below her name to find out which country she was in. That was when I got Nina's email. "Amanda" is in the country we needed. She was born in 2010, and Nina sent us her pictures and Medical record, which Matt could read over and decipher for me!!! She appeared to fit the "description" of the daughter we were looking for.

 It gets better...

We started to talk to Julian (15), Caroline (9), and Taylor (7) about God's call for us to bring home an orphan to raise and love as a daughter and sister. We let them know she would be like Bobby and that we would be able to provide for her things she could never dream of having in an orphanage. We could give her a future. We asked them to pray for this child, and we showed them the pictures and video of "Amanda". They fell in love with her picture immediately. We hated having to explain to them that this was not final and that even if "Amanda" isn't the child God has for us that there is one out there just as in need. They all expressed their understanding.

Taylor and I had a private discussion last Thursday night. I had sent in the initial application, and while I did not feel like everything was wrapped up by any means, I felt like we could dream a little. So Taylor and I talked about praying for our adoption and we talked about if we did not get "Amanda". However, there was a name that had been on my heart for a few years and I wanted to talk to Taylor about it. The girls both had the same kindergarden teacher. Her name is Natalie Hilger and she is the most perfect kindergarden teacher you could ever ask for! Her name stuck to me though since Caroline had her. So I asked Taylor what she thought of naming our little girl, Natalie. She agreed that it was a cute name for "Amanda". A friend of mine also has a little girl named Natalie who is in Natalie's class this year and I told her a couple months ago how much I loved the name! So at least that was settled, Taylor and I were voting to name her Natalie!

The next morning I inquired with Nina about choosing a name. What role did the name "Amanda" play in this? Does she have a birth name? What is the best advice as far as her age and changing her name? Do kids this age get confused? Should we keep part of her eastern European name?

Nina replied very quickly that her name is ().... Amanda is what we were call her for privacy. Most families choose a new first name generally and try to incorporate part of the child's eastern European name into what they name them.

WOW!