December 16 and going to Dulles to get her!

Dec. 16 finally arrived - without much sleep the night before! Tom and I were off bright and early headed to Charlotte. The plan was I would fly to Dulles to get her - spend the night there and fly back the next morning. Tom would run "shuttle" for us from Boone to Charlotte and stay home and take care of the dogs and "hold down the fort"! I arrived @ Dulles @ 1:10pm - had to be there by 3pm. Very quickly met up w/ other host families and w/ KT Bronson - my host coordinator and new found "sister"! We all sat and drank coffee and exchanged stories of how this came to be in each of our lives. One thing I learned was that even though the stories differed somewhat - none of us had planned this life changing adventure. I had one lady tell me "these kids find you - you don't go looking for them" - that pretty much summed it up. We knew that the kids would be clearing customs sometime around 4:30 or 5:00 so about 4pm we were all getting nervous, excited and antsy about it so we ventured out to the "international waiting area". Before too long the doors opened and the kids, w/ guardians and translators started pouring thru the door. The emotion was overwhelming - many of these families had hosted their kids before and were just waiting for permission to travel to adopt - so were hosting again during that waiting period and were experiencing a fantastic reunion. Many other were first timers like me and were equally nervous and overwhelmed with emotion. As the kids emerged - adults broke away from each other and looked for their child. I saw Ira very quickly and called her name, held up her welcome sign and she grinned the biggest, sweetest grin you've ever seen and came immediately! She was full of smiles and hugs and just wouldn't let go! She was so beautiful!! I'll never forget her face at that first moment! I've never felt so much emotion so quickly in my entire life other than the moment when my own son was first placed in my arms. It was beyond overwhelming and so so so happy! I finally had her with me - she was actually here!!! I couldn't believe it and couldn't wait to get started on our journey and see what it had in store for us! What an amazing day - I'll never ever forget it nor will I forget all of the emotions I was feeling at the time. I'm so greatful for that experience - that moment in time. I can't believe I was given the gift to experience something so wonderful and so powerful. After some bonding and visiting with others at the airport - it was time to move on - could not wait to call Tom and tell him everything!!!!!!