Gotcha Day

Wow. It’s hard to go into something with no expectations. They informed us during training about almost any possibility under the sun of what your child will be like, how he/she will react to you, worst case scenarios, etc. etc. But yet, they say, go in with no expectations. That was really hard, but we tried! That being said, this is how it went down.

We left the hotel a little early in an effort to get to Civil Affairs (read: an apartment that China rents because they don’t want a bunch of crying babies in the real government building) before the kids got there. We were with another couple on their way to adopt a precious 13 year old boy. We wove through Kunming traffic, which doesn’t quite compare to Nairobi traffic, but we did have a few near misses, saw lots of people transporting large items on bicycles and almost hit many people on scooters. Basically, we felt right at home :)

Despite our best efforts, we arrived and walked in to the room and there she was! We were prepared for this though, so had the video camera running and BAM, just like that, we have a daughter. It’s a strange, strange feeling to look at someone who is a year old and she is your child, and yet you know nothing about her. She didn’t cry at all, which is not what we anticipated (ok, ok, so much for no expectations, I know) but just stared at us, solemnly. After a bit she seemed to warm up and became very, very wiggly, wanting to climb up us as we were holding her, bend backwards, look around, grab at things, etc. She didn’t want to be put down though, which I took as a good sign. We endured a very small room with 4 families and their newly adopted ones (one 13 year old, one 11 year old and a 5 year old), many nannies, Civil Affairs workers, our guide and a partridge in a pear tree (just kidding, they don’t celebrate Christmas here), signing paperwork, getting our photo taken and asking questions about Ivey that no one really seemed to know the answers to. After about an hour we were able to leave, drove to “Wal-Mart” (it really is Wal-Mart but my Wal-Mart at home doesn’t sell chicken feet or live crabs in bulk) to buy formula and diapers. We had to carry Ivey through the store b/c we hadn’t brought the baby carrier and she fell asleep in daddy’s arms J.

First picture together!

 

We had to walk back to the hotel because there was nowhere for our driver to park, so we trekked through Kunming and arrived back unscathed, fed Ivey some Congee (a rice porridge), got some dinner, gave her a bath (hated), a bottle (liked) and she drifted off to dream land. She is now sleeping peacefully next to me while Eric and I are wide awake (Yep, its 3 am Gotta love jet lag!).

 

We shall see what tomorrow holds. We are thankful. We are bone tired. We are blessed.