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| First time in baba's arms, he's not sure what to think, |
What can I say about Monday's Gotcha day? It started out really good. We got a good night's sleep, had a nice breakfast and headed to the Civil Service Office. Emotions were totally mixed for us both. It was hard to believe we would have our boy in just a few minutes, and yet we were a mix of oddly being calm, nervous, numb, and unsure of how the whole process and day would be for us all.
Our whole group, 8 families adopting 10 kinds, would be getting our children today along with 8 other families from different agencies. We headed to the bus while one of our guide Yisha explained how the morning would go for everyone. We arrived and just hung around with the other families awaiting our children. There was 1 family from another agency who had their child already. Now was a good time to head to the squatty potty, but we also prayed it wouldn't be like the restaurant where your food comes while your gone. Thankfully that did not happen to any of us.
As the children arrived, some together some not, we all took turns taking pictures, and video because after all sticky rice ( a nickname for our group) sticks together! Our little Nian was coming to us along with another child from Louhe. It was so wonderful to see all these families and friends unite with their children. Some of the children went right to their families with open arms, smiles and tears of joy. Others weren't having anything to do with this whole process. My heart broke for them and their parents.
My biggest fear for today was having my child walk in and not recognizing him. I soon found out I had nothing to fear as our little guy came in the door he looked just like his photo but more wide eyed and afraid, my poor little guy. We grabbed him into our arms and hugged as one to our little guy. Tears streaming down my face, hey ya'll should have know that was coming I've been crying for months! lol. Later I had another Dad tell us he was held it together with all the kids coming in until he saw my tears, they made him cry as well. Nothing but love in that room for all of us, not only for our children but for the other parents as well. Joe and I felt so blessed to have that kind of support. Sticky rice!
After we signed our guardianship papers we all headed back to the hotel for some time to bond and soak it all in. Later in the afternoon we headed over to a meeting room to fill our some additional paper, I told ya we'd have more to do in China. This paperwork was for the passports and notary. We had to put our "seal' on our signature when we were with our thumb prints.
It was a very long day for all of us. We decided to get some take out and eat in the room, Little guy also needed a bath. He's not a big fan of having his shoes taken off or getting his hair wet. Come to find out his shoes were small, which made his feet sweat, which made them look like blistered white raisins. He only had a little blister on one of his big toes and the rest was just from them being wet. The bath went as well as could be expected and we were off to play a bit more before heading to bed. I don't think any of us realized how long of a night it was going to be.
That's just part of the grieving process and it will take a while to heal these wounds of his. But we'll get there. Slow and stead wins the race.
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| Civil Service Office |
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| Squatty Potty |
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| Our first smile |
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