3, 2, 1...Hannah, Here We Come!

Stuff's about to get real here in the Tegtmeier family. 

Chris and I will be traveling to spend time with our Hannah Joy TOMORROW! As I type, we have less than 24 more hours to wait before boarding our first plane. 

We are feeling all the feels over here this afternoon. Excited, nervous, overwhelmed with all of the preparations that need to be completed before we leave our precious kiddos home for a week to visit our new addition.

Our minds, and even our dreams (I had a weird one two nights ago!) are filled to the brim with questions and wonderings about our girl. Our girl. 

She's really real. And we're really about to see her face to face, kiss her cheeks and feel the warmth of her skin. It doesn't feel real yet, but oh how we cannot even wait for that first look, that first memory with our daughter. 

I've been feeling a little nostalgic these last few days, remembering those crazy, scary, miraculous first moments with Sam and Tony.

My very good friend, Anna, captured my first moments with Samantha on her blog. I love these words the best. 

"The joy was written all over her, she just kept saying over and over again, 'she is perfect, Anna, she is perfect!'  And she is."

I wrote something similar myself,

"I know it doesn’t happen this way for everyone, so I don’t take it for granted that right in that moment, she felt nothing but mine...I was finally feeling that “thing” that parents have, rising up inside of me. I knew in that moment where the gumption to care for her was going to come from. It wasn’t something I was going to have to conjure up. God gave me an unstoppable, unconditional love for Samantha that day."

I recorded my own first moments with Tony immediately upon returning to our hotel after visit number one.

"...I have peace in my heart and a strong confidence that he belongs with us. He fits. He fits in my arms, and he most definitely fits in my heart. As I've been hoping and praying for, there is room for him. There is love enough for he and Sam and I can see now how we all fit together. Little man of my dreams is now real. Living, breathing, precious, perfect little man. Truly, he is perfect."

It has been a beautiful experience for me this last year and a half to be present for Chris's firsts as a dad. Those firsts may have looked different from mine, but they were miraculous, none the less. He took to fatherhood, and our kids took to him in such a way that we have no doubt God was orchestrating it all from Heaven. Especially his relationship with Tony. I do not doubt that Tony knew Chris was his daddy long before we were married. Maybe even before we were dating, as our boy got the first date with Dad, weeks before Mommy finally did the same.

Here's Chris and Tony on their first date to the zoo. I had asked Chris
to snap a few photos for me of their trip and he far exceeded my expectations.
Some of my favorite photos of these two are still from this trip.

See, you can't look at this picture and not see it. He was always his daddy.

Last week, after more than a year of already being Sam and Tony's dad, Chris and I went to court and made it official. Now those birth certificates will read, as they should, that our children have two parents.

Adoption is a crazy, strange, beautiful journey full of twists and turns and unknowns. Of course, we're nervous to meet our new daughter. Nervous because there's no way of knowing how we'll connect with her or how she'll respond to us. We can't fathom the hurts in her heart or her level of understanding. But if there's one thing we do know it's that God has brought us together. He has good plans for us and for her. We, and she, are sitting comfortably right in the center of His will for us. There's no safer place to be.

Actually, I should say there's two things we know for sure. We also know that for better or worse, Hannah is ours. The deal is done, there's no going back. We're choosing her now forever.

We would love for you to join us in prayer over the next week as we travel, and more importantly as we meet our newest daughter. The following are a few things we thought of that we know will need to be covered in prayer, but please also just pray as the Spirit would lead you. He knows best.

• For Sam and Tony as we're away. Please pray especially that God will protect our attachments to both of them and that they will continue to feel secure in our love for them while we're away. 
• For Madi and Christina and everyone who will help to care for them while we're away. 
• For safe and timely travels, both our flights over, and our driving in country.
• For or marriage, that God will protect and strengthen us through this time together, and especially as we experience adding a child to our family together for the first time.
• For Hannah Joy. That God would prepare and protect her heart to meet her forever mommy and daddy. And that he would also prepare that mommy and daddy to be what she needs. 
• For protection over our home, our family, every caregiver, and every aspect of this trip, here at home and in Bulgaria, that the enemy would have not power over us. And that we would look to Jesus in all things. 

Thank you all for your love and support. We are excited to share our journey with you as it happens. Please know you're invited to check back in here for updates all along the way. We can't wait to introduce you to our daughter.

Lots of love to all of you.