a Rose by any other name...

So Autumn Rose wasn't really a name that we had decided on...Autumn was, but Rose never ever was mentioned during the entire time of our wait and especially when we were going through lists and lists of names picking out ones we both liked.

We had a list of about seven names...and we had decided we were definitely going to keep part of her given name. About summertime, we ended up narrowing our list down to either Autumn or Myranda Jo...both with part of her given name. G was leaning more towards Myranda and I was liking Autumn a bit more.

Friday morning 11.3.06: This was- as we realised the day before, our Referral Day. G had the day off since her work gave it off since her birthday was on the Saturday, I ended up taking the day off because I knew I wouldnt' be able to concentrate at work for the short time I knew I'd be there.
G was making coffee and just kind of out of the blue asked me "so what do you think about the name Autumn Rose?" Of course I loved it, but I asked her where the 'rose' part came from. She said "it just kind of popped into my head this morning while I was laying in bed. I don't know, it was just there...Autumn Rose."
Later on, our agency called and congratulated us and said our referral was ready. On our way down there, G said "wouldn't it be funny (not haha funny) if her given name had something to do with a flower or flowers?" I agreed. We finally got to our agency and upon sitting down at the table with our social worker who opened the file, we realised the result of the RedThread. There it was larger than life at the top of the referral page. Wan Chun Lan...and it said that Chun Lan meant 'spring orchid'. We looked at each other with an amazed look on our faces. yes...there it was. Somehow, someway, our daughter had reached out to us. Autumn Rose ChunLan. autumn rose-spring orchid. This name to me means more than just the lovely sound of the words. It is ying and yang. Spring and autumn- which are my favourites seasons. It is the exoticness of the orchid and the steadfast beauty and signature of love which is the rose. It is the awakening of life and growth...and the time when everything settles down for rest. I feel that she embodies this all not only because I feel she reached out and whispered 'autumn rose' to G, but to look into her eyes shows me this as well.

The other part of this story is that G had had two dreams about our daughter that night...leading up to that Friday morning. She had dreamt first that she was about 8 months. The second dream she was about 16 months. Autumn's referral photos were taken in May when she was 8 months old...when we get her and bring her home she'll just about be 16months.

These are reasons we believe in the RedThread...and in just a few short weeks, G and I will finally and officially welcome Autumn into our lives.