10/5/04-And our lives are changed forever...

Friends, family and fans -- the decision has been made. After much soul searching, talking and questions to multiple doctors, we've made our choices. From this point on, our lives will never be the same.

This has been a trying experience, more so than we ever imagined. Our first day at the orphanage was depressing as we walked from room to room looking at children from 6 months to 4 years. You could see the many issues, whether physical, emotional or developmental that these children have to go through. It tears at your heart. It started us on an emotional journey.

On the first day, we basically picked the children we ended up with, but we've done a lot of soul searching to make the final commitment. We understand there will be a lot these children needs from us and we had to make sure we were prepared to live up to the task -- especially if we picked two children. We've taken a couple days visiting the children and have decided we are ready to commit.

As planned, we have picked two children, one boy and one girl. Being 19 days apart, they are basically going to be twins, very different twins as you can see from their pictures. Let us tell you a little bit about our children.

Tania, soon to be Grace Elizabeth is the older at 10 months. She was born on December 1, 2003. She is very tiny at 12 lbs, 25.4 inches. We do have some concerns about her development as she came from an at-risk environment, but we know we can help and she should thrive once we have her out of the orphanage. She is very alert, watching everyone and everything and has large, beautiful brown eyes that stole Bill's heart from the start. She doesn't say much and doesn't sit very sturdy, but she crawls on all fours. She also sat on a swing in the playroom and pulled on the ropes to swing herself all on her own. (Bill thought this was pretty good, but he's prejudiced.)

Daniel, soon to be Jackson William is 9 months old, born on December 19, 2003. (He is soon to learn the great frustration of having a Christmas birthday, right Mary Ann.) He is a classic orphanage baby, very lethargic when we first met him, but we've already seen him brighten up since we've started to spend time with him. He is just starting to creep and seems to be getting more and more active each day. He and Grace have already had their first sibling fight over a toy. Luckily, no bloodshed. He is very ticklish and has a beautiful smile. He is a little more auditory than Grace, but still behind. We just going to keep talking to the both of them until they answer back.

Tomorrow, we will go back to the orphanage and let them know we've made our choice, but we wanted to let all of you know first. We know many of you have been waiting on pins and needles for news. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.

P.S. Below are some pictures. We will post more tomorrow.