Love and Laughter at The Chinese Buffet

Today could not have gone much better. My husband is finally here! We slept in and sipped coffee, in no rush to get anywhere this morning. Both of us started getting butterflies around noon since the time was nearing when Mitch would meet C for the first time and we would also meet her children and mother. At 2 o'clock we drove to C's place and she invited us in to hang out with her and her children until her mother and stepfather arrived. Her 4 year old was just as adorable and winsome as yesterday :-) And the rest of the kids....let me say that unless Asher's birthfather is really unattractive and has very strong genes, there's no doubt in my mind that our boy will be HANDSOME! C's children are absolutely gorgeous, both in looks and in personality. Her three boys could almost be triplets by looking at their size. In reality they are 4 1/2, 6 and 7 and reminded us of our 8 and 6 year old boys at home (sniff sniff..miss them and E). Her second daughter was shy, but her oldest daughter asked us some tough questions right off the bat. For example, "What are your kids going to say when you bring home a baby that's not white?" :) We assured her that they already know this. She also asked some tougher questions like, "When will you come back and visit us?" and, "You're not playing us, are you?." She then went on to tell about a movie that she saw on Lifetime about a white family adopting a black baby who were "all nice and everything in the beginning and then the baby's family never saw him again and never got pictures or anything!" The comic relief came when her 10 year old sister, totally straight faced said, "But this is not a Lifetime movie, E." Love those kids.

As it happened, not only did C's mother and stepfather come to visit, but her sister and nephew surprised her by coming as well. I'll admit I was a little overwhelmed at the loud shrieks of delight the whole family let out as they greeted each other. But once again, God met us there. We piled the whole bunch of us into two cars and headed to the Chinese Buffet. Overtaking a very large table, we got enormous amounts of mediocre Chinese food and got to know each other better. In all honestly, it very quickly started to feel like a family reunion of sorts. We laughed until our bellies hurt! C's stepfather constantly took pictures, announcing that they would all be appearing on his facebook page. Her mother told me that I was brave to be in the delivery room with C as she can get quite, ahem, "animated" during labor. When Mitch asked if he should be scared for my well-being, her mother said, "Oh yes! And her emotional well-being, too! You better pray for a double dose of God in that room with her!" So we will see....I've obviously never been on this end of things during a delivery. Mildly scared.. :)

C's children were delightful during lunch and one of the biggest gifts we've been given thus far is the chance to interact with them and take lots of pictures. C's sister expressed her approval of us and told us that she knew we'd take good care of the baby. She also told us that C was told her first baby was a boy. That would be her 14 year old DAUGHTER! Well that would be interesting.

Again, there was more to today than what can or should be blogged about. I am so very grateful that Mitch was here to experience this with me. There is no way I could have done justice to this wonderful family by description. Both of us being there today was important. And so we trust God and his timeline again. If Asher would have already been born, we would not have had today. And today was very, very wonderful.