Holding my sister for the very first time!
The first pictures I ever saw of my little sister
The day I met my little sister was probably the BEST day of my entire life. The two times my parents told me that they were going to have a baby, I ALWAYS wished and wished that it would be a girl. Almost all my friends had little or big sisters and to me it always seemed like they were having fun together. Laughing, telling secrets, and doing all sorts of fun things. It was almost like an insta-friend. You didn't have to have your mom call her mom to see if she could come over to hang out. She was always there. To most girls with little sisters it's more like yeah she's ALWAYS here. That's my problem!!! But even though I knew it could get annoying, just like brothers where, I still really really wanted a sister of my own. But both the times after me, that my parents came home from the hospital it was never a girl. And believe me I LOVE my brothers. They're funny, they're wild, they can be a lot of fun. But at the same time, being all the fun they are, they're still boys. Boys who play with {pretend} guns, who like to beat each other up for fun, boys who call everyone 'dude'. They're not sisters you can tell secrets too, not sisters who have hair you can style (although, sometimes, they do let me gel their hair =). And they're not sisters who have nails you can paint. I mean they do have nails, I just can't paint them! =)
But they're awesome 'dudes' who are actually really fun to hang out with. And even though they are, that doesn't make them sisters!
But I wanted a sister. So so badly. It's hard to explain why I wanted one that much. But I did. I guess maybe I wanted to see what it was like. To see if it was as bad as some of my friends said it was to see what exactly what it would be like. Would I like it? Would it be really fun, or would I rather just have brothers? Would I enjoy it, or miss being the only girl? I wanted to find out.
One day, at our morning devotions we have with our mom before we start school, my mom said "wouldn't it be cool if we could adopt a baby?" and she went on to say she had been thinking about it a lot. It was a big concept to get your head around.
I'm not exactly sure what I said or what I even thought about it at the time. I can't remember if I was really excited or if I thought it would never happen. I'm not sure. But knowing me, I can guess I was feeling a little of both. I can get really excited about things, but sometimes, when I know that it's a very unlikely thing to happen I can be inwardly excited but still in my mind not let my self get too too excited.
What ever my feelings were at the time, I know the prospect of having another sibling and maybe a sister this time excited our whole family. Mom and dad continued to talk about it, and pray about it a lot. And one day they reached a decision. I wish I remembered that day, the day that they told us we would be getting a little sister, but I don't. You'd think after all those years of wanting a little sister I would remember that day, that they told me that dream would become a reality. But even though I don't remember that day, I remember being excited, telling my friends, and thinking about how it would all work out. Would she like me? Would she be girly or would she be a tom boy? The question of would she be a girly-girl or not, although being one of the silliest question I had, was probably the one that troubled me the most. It's a silly thing to think about really. But if she was the type of girl who is always climbing trees instead of picking flowers. Or if she liked to play with the boys rather then having a tea party with the girls? Being the age I was those things where the things I did. The things all the girly-girls did. I was one of the girly-girls. That was for sure. I wondered if she wasn't like me, how was I supposed to play with her every single day? And how would I share secrets with a girl who wouldn't even care? I was so so afraid, how ever much it was a strange fear, that she wouldn't be like me. I dreaded the days we had to go to some one's house who wasn't a girly-girl, how would I live with someone like that?
I can remember how the next couple of months where filled with going building to building, my parents signing paper after paper, getting this piece of paper work notarised, and mom and dad getting their thumb prints taken yet again! I thought it would never end. The countless days of sitting in those dreaded waiting room chairs, having nothing to do but watch other parents trying to get their kids to sit for just 'five more minutes' . Getting tired of people calling my mom and dads names to go sign even more pieces of paper, then them coming back to the waiting room to get us, with the people who worked there behind them saying 'we waited so patiently'. All that Caleb Josiah and I cared about was getting out of there, and going home, all the while in the back of our minds thinking we where one signature on another piece of paper closer to getting our sister form China.
Finally, we finished all the signing of papers, the taking of finger prints, and the other lovely things of filling out paper work, and sent it off to China. They finally approved it, and thus began the process of waiting and waiting and waiting!
While we where waiting, spring time came on the lovely island of Hawaii, and that means one thing- time to move again! Of course, this time it would be a little different, because we where going to get out of the Air Force. Meaning, my dad was no longer to going to be a Maj. and he would have to find a job somewhere else. It was really weird, to think it would be our last move with the military. To think, we would no longer live on an air force base, or have to move every three years. They were thrilling thoughts, but at the very same time terrifying. Everything I had ever known would change. Our mail would no longer be addressed to Major and Mrs Andrew Leong. When someone asked where my dad worked I couldn't tell them he was in the Air Force. I'm not sure which part in that scared me the most, except that I knew everything would be different. But I knew the Lord would provide for us, just as he always does for his children. He would not just leave us alone to fend for our selves. He planned everything that has happened in my life and everything that will happen. And it's such a comforting thought. To know he is always always with us. And he won't leave us or forsake us.
So, we left for Colroado Springs, CO. You wouldn't believe how even though we where scared to be leaving the military, we where SO excited. So excited. I don't know why but it was almost a sense of freedom. To know, unless my parents want to move somewhere for some reason, we won't have to move so much. We wouldn't have to start all over again. It was thrilling.
We made it to Colorado. My dad found a wonderful job, we found the best church we've ever gone to, the Lord was providing for our every need.
But, the adoption process was taking forever! We had been waiting for a little less then two years for our baby, but it seemed like much much longer then that.
Finally, on June 24th, Josiah's 6th birthday, we got a call. We where watching something on TV, (I think it was Hannah Montana =) and we where eating lunch at the same time. I had come upstairs to get a spoon, and the phone started ringing. I can remember how I looked at the caller ID, and it said Chinese Children Adoption International, our adoption agency. I as soon as I saw that, I started freaking out. Jumping up and down, and screaming to mom that they were calling (I think I must have been just a little excited=) And if you know me well, you know that I HATE running, unless someones chasing me or something....But I can remember running SO fast to hand the phone to mom. She started freaking out too! We where all freaking out so much, that we totally missed the call. Then mom's cell phone started ringing, because the lady was trying to get a hold of us! We all ran up stairs and mom answered it. The first thing the woman said was "would you like to see your daughter?". Caleb, Josiah and I started jumping up and down. None of us could believe that after such a long time of waiting, the day was actually here that we would see a picture of our sister. It was so unreal. We all ran to the computer room, and mom went to her email. There right in front of us where pictures of OUR little sister, the one I had been waiting for, for my whole entire life!!!!! I thought she was the most gorgeous baby I had ever seen. And she was MY sister! MY sister. The one I had been dieing to have for years. And there she was! A gorgeous face, perfect almond eyes, and perfect little pink lips. Could she be anymore perfect??
In the following months, we waited for different pieces of paper to arrive form China, saying that mom and dad could fly on this date and go and get her!! We were EXTREMELY excited! We bought her little diapers and dresses and little snacks and cups and lotions and that baby soap that smells really good. We packed up all her little dolls and toys for mom to take to her.
Finally, the day came where mom and dad where leaving to China. They left REALLY early in the morning, and our grandparents came to stay with Caleb, Josiah, and I. I can remember the night my mom called and said they had just met her and they where playing with her in their hotel room. I could actually hear her laughing in the back round. I can totally remember hearing her for the first time. The little squeals of joy when dad gave her another cheerio, and I can remember hearing dad taking to her in the back round. I cried and cried that night. I felt so so so thankful that I actually had a sister. That we finally got her. I makes me cry when I remember it. It was such a beautiful feeling to know that after waiting and waiting, there with my mom and dad, was Moriah Mei Leong. MY sister. I was so extremely amazed, that right there, although half the world away, was my sister.
Finally after two and a half weeks of my parents being in China with that gorgeous baby sister of mine, the day came where they would get to come home. To Moriah's real HOME. And we would be a family. A complete family. A mom, a dad, an older sister, two brothers, and my little sister. Perfect. Really really perfect.
My grandma and grandpa made us these tee shirts to wear to the air port with Moriah's picture on them. I remember getting a hamburger before he went to the air port, and being so excited I couldn't even eat my meal! I showed almost everyone in the entire restaurant my shirt, and told them all about how I was going to FINALLY meet my sister!
We drove to the airport, and we rode the elevator up to the second floor. All my cousins and aunts and uncles where all gathered around. Waiting. Just like we had been waiting. And now the day I had been dreaming about for so long was here. I didn't meet my sister in the hospital, and I didn't meet her when she was a little baby. I didn't see her ultra sound picture, like I had my brothers. But I did see one thing in mother's arms. A little girl. A girl who was my sister. Right there was my very own sister. I held her and I felt so amazed that this was really her. And she was right here. And I was holding her! I will never ever ever forget that day. Not as long as I live. All the nights I lay in my bed, thinking about that day when I would go to the air port and parents would have a baby girl in their arms, that day was now. Words can not describe how I felt. It was unreal. All I could do was stand there and thank the Lord, for giving me this perfect sister.
I am so blessed and honored to be this little girl's big sister. The Lord knew all along that I would be able to have a sister of my own, and he knew it would be Moriah. Moriah has been such a blessing to me, and I am so thankful the Lord allowed me to be her Jie Jie and her to be my mei mei!
