Lauren is a dream come true for our family. We found our beautiful daughter on one of the many "Waiting Child" lists in October 2006. The moment we saw her picture we knew that she was meant to be our daughter. We immediately contacted the agency who had her file and told them that we could not wait to adopt her and give her a forever home. It was a long process that took 11 months but it felt more like 11 years. We had picutres of Lauren all over our home, in our wallets and our children even had them in their schoolbags. When anyone would ask  us how many children we had, we could not wait to shout out, "Three, but one is waiting for us in China!"  We missed her second birthday, but we made sure that she would be able to enjoy her special day in her SWI. We sent her a huge carepackage filled with dolls, a panda larger than she was, coloring books, stickers, balls...you name it, it was in the package. We made sure to send an extra 100 coloring books and sets of crayons so that all of the children could share in Laurens excitement! We even sent a large pop up ladybug tent for everyone to enjoy and hopefully bring some good luck to all of the children waiting for their forever families. We also sent her a cake, which we were told she LOVED. We were given pictures on "Gotcha Day" that showed her digging into her cake...what a gift that was!!! We were packed for months when we finally recieved our TA. We couldnt get to China fast enough to meet Lauren for the first time. It was the day we had all dreamed about for almost a year, and it was finally here! When we saw her face in person for the very first time it was nothing less than a miracle...our family was finally complete. As I write this, Lauren is sleeping peacefully in her own room with a loving family surrounding her...a place that every single waiting child should be. God willing, every child will find their loving homes quickly!