Gotcha Day

Let me begin by saying thank you for all of the many emails and blog comments! They make us feel closer to home and sustain us. We wish we could respond to each one, but time just won’t allow it. We love each and every one of you, though and we love reading your encouraging words as we continue down this road. Now, on to today…



Up until the afternoon, today was very uneventful. We woke up, got dressed, had breakfast, settled into our room and tried to get organized in what little space we have, had lunch and waited. Our guide was supposed to arrive at 1 or 1:30 pm (or so she said yesterday), so we waited with questions and waited and waited. She finally arrived at 3:15 pm, approximately 5 minutes before Emalyn arrived.

We were waiting in our room, discussing miscellaneous questions with Helen when I heard a baby crying in the hallway and I just knew it was Emalyn. The orphanage director and the official who accompanied him knocked on the door and there she was. Dressed in a gray Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt and purple, black and silver plaid pants with the tag still attached. She was whaling even as they walked in the door and definitely knew something was happening. The orphanage director was pretty cold. I was standing at the door when they entered, tried to speak calmly to Emalyn and reached to take her. He walked in, right past me, and sat her down on the floor. I immediately scooped her up and began looking for something to calm her down and make her more comfortable. We offered puffs, yogurt bites, balloons, dolls and lovies and nothing worked. When Adair finally came over to greet her, she seemed to calm a little and seemed interested in this person who seemed to be about her size. Adair and I had rearranged all of our toys earlier today into one suitcase, so we took her over, sat down on the floor and started to try each one. When Adair started blowing bubbles, she calmed down and watched, then anything that made noise got her attention, and finally stickers. Adair would stick them on my arm and Emalyn would take them off and hold them in her hand. This went on while Hank went through our list of questions with the orphanage director (our guide interpreting, of course) and then he was gone.

Emalyn cried hard on and off for about 3 hours, she wanted nothing to do with Hank and held onto me for dear life. We managed to get a clean diaper on her and, eventually, bath her. She didn’t like sitting in the blow up tub we brought or the large bathtub (even with Adair), but was always okay as soon as picked her back up. Hank did manage to wash her hair in the faucet while I held her and she did okay with that. She let me trim her fingernails and toenails without making a sound, but wasn’t really fond of lotion at first. We continued to offer snacks and water all afternoon. She would hold them, but didn’t eat them.

Finally, we had to venture downstairs to grab dinner (unfortunately our “international” hotel has absolutely nothing Western on the room service menu). While we were preparing to leave, Adair asked for Cheerios, so we put some in a snack trap for her and some in a bowl for Emalyn and before I knew it Emalyn was eating them one by one. I was so happy and relieved she was eating. As we were leaving the room and I went to open the door, Emalyn reached up and tried to close it back. I took that as a sign that she wanted to stay, probably for fear that leaving meant changing arms once again. It was nice to be able to reassure her, to leave and then to return to the same place. It was so refreshing to walk into the restaurant and see another American family with two Chinese daughters (one adopted 3 years ago, the other’s gotcha day was also today). At dinner, Hank ordered fried rice for Adair and I ordered conge for Emalyn. As we waited Emalyn really started to come out of her shell. Adair finished her Cheerios and I wanted to see how Emalyn could handle the snack trap, so I poured a little of her Cheerios into the trap, she fumbled around with it for a while and when she finally figured it out, she looked up at me and smiled for the first time! From there, she laughed and smiled a lot at dinner, she was turning the pages in the menu, stacking the cups, and playing with a spoon. When our food came, she wanted nothing to do with the conge, but loved Adair’s fried rice. In fact, I think she ate more than Adair, who was so exhausted she fell asleep at the table. The sweet waitress even brought an extra chair to lay her down in and a pillow and blanket for her. She was such a great big sister today and worked so hard to make Emalyn happy that she was just plain tuckered out. Emalyn on the other hand, ate tons of rice, drank her water and was content. Quite a welcome change from the hard crying and boarder line fits of the afternoon.

When we got back to our room, I put her down on the bed to change her into her pajamas and it was the first time that I put her down that she didn’t cry…a definite step in the right direction. After Adair was changed and tucked into bed, Hank made Emalyn a bottle, but before he could get it to us, she had fallen fast asleep in my arms. She is now sleeping peacefully in her crib, right next to me.

It’s funny how one day can make such a difference. Yesterday we were a family of three, not knowing what today held or what it would be like, but today, we are a family of four and all seems right with the world. I know there will be a lot of hard moments and days ahead, but as both our girls sleep, I thank God for the two of them and for the both conventional and unconventional ways that they joined our family. God is good. He is faithful to complete the work he started. He called us to this and He will not abandon us. I am so thankful that we chose to trust Him and be obedient to His call and I pray that some day the precious jewels to my left and right will trust Him, too. I pray that our adopting Emalyn into our family will be a glimpse to them of God’s adoption of us into His family and that it will make all the difference.

Sorry there aren't more pictures. I've downloaded them, but they are taking too long to upload. I promise to add them tomorrow! For now, I have to sleep...busy day ahead. Good night!

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