The Face That Stole Our Hearts!

We have had quite the ride these past few days! 

We have been expecting our third court hearing for a couple of weeks. At this hearing, we expected to hear that the judge had verbally given his approval and that we would receive word of the official written orders in the next couple of weeks. That hearing happened today. 

We received a call on Thursday morning that changed our expectations a little bit! We found out that we had actually received verbal court orders at our last hearing on January 21! We learned that the agency overseeing our paperwork was actually going to be picking up our written orders today! 

This means that it is absolutely official... Cora is our daughter. We are her Mommy and Daddy forever! Our court order is being officially registered in her country and then they will apply for her passport. As soon as the orphanage has her passport in hand, Jason and I are going to get on a plane to bring our sweet girl home!!!

There is one more awesome thing that comes with these written orders. We can now officially introduce our baby girl to you! This is the precious child that stole our hearts 2 years ago! 

Her name is Cora Lakshmi Baisden! Cora is a family name on my side. My great-grandmother and grandmother both had the middle name of Cora. Both of these women possessed a lot of strength and even more spunk! Our daughter is already showing that she lives up to both of these qualities! Lakshmi (luck-shmee) is the name that was given to our daughter at birth. It is important to us that she keep her given name because it is an important tie to her birth mother and her birth culture. We will call her by both names until Cora Lakshmi is old enough to decide what she wants to be called. 

We can also finally show you the little face that took our breath away! And we can tell you a little more about her. 

9 Months Old
Our first glimpse!

Cora Lakshmi is a very happy little girl who just happens to be blind. She is living in a very good situation and is very well cared for. She absolutely loves to dance! And jump! And laugh! We've also been told that Cora Lakshmi is funny and loves to make her caregivers laugh. 

The first time Cora Lakshmi heard our voices!
Her 3rd birthday.

Cora Lakshmi is 3 1/2 years old. At last measurement she was 35 inches tall and weighed 27 pounds. That was a few months ago so we will be taking a few different sizes of clothing with us when we go to Ind*a in a few weeks.

2 years old

Cora Lakshmi on her 3rd birthday

 The bottom line is that Cora Lakshmi is finally, officially and legally our daughter. We are waiting for her passport to be applied for and delivered back to the agency handling our paperwork in Ind*a. When we receive word that her passport is ready, we will bring her home! 

We do not have official travel dates yet. 

Her irresistible smile!!