Gotcha Day

Because our internet wasn't working well in Nanchang, I never got to blog about Gotcha Day.  We have the morning off today, so I have some time to get caught up on some writing. 
 
We arrived in Nanchang on May 22 around 10 AM.  Our guide told our group on the way to the hotel that we'd meet our children around 3 PM.  After 5 and a half years of waiting, it was hard to believe we were just a few hours away from holding baby girl.  I was surprisingly calm as the hours went by.  We were told that we'd be meeting in a quiet lobby in the back of the hotel.  The phone rang around 4.  Our guide said, "They are finally here with the babies!"  We grabbed our cameras and headed down on the elevator.  We were surprised to see that the women and the two babies were right outside the elevator in the main lobby instead of the quiet area in the back of the hotel.  I grabbed a bell hop and handed him the video camera.  One of the ladies asked Brian, "What is your child's name?"  He told her, "Minying."  She got Abby Kate and handed her to me.  She had a Walmart sticker with her name on it, I guess to make sure they gave us the right child!
 
Tears streamed down my face as I held the one I'd dreamed of for so many years.  She was confused, of course, but she didn't scream.  I'd prayed for that.  Brian tried to hold her, but she seemed to be scared of him.  She held onto me with a death grip.  One thing we'd been praying for was a supernatural attachment.  Abby Kate seemed instantly attached to me.  We were so thankful that God graciously gave us that.  Our coordinator gave us a sheet of paper that had Abby Kate's schedule on it (which didn't pan out to mean anything in reality).  We talked with the orphanage director briefly and asked her to write a note to Abby Kate.  Her note wished AK good luck and fortune and asked AK to come back to China someday.  One of my favorite things was getting to give the director the sack full of about 175 hats knitted by me, my mom, my cousin, and a few others.  She was overcome with the gift.  When we left the lobby, she was still looking at all of them and talking with her coworker about them.  I'm so glad we were able to do that for them.  We won't ever see the babies who wear those hats, but knowing we will have a part in bringing them a little more comfort in the orphanage is a wonderful thought.  
 
All total, I think we were in the lobby for about 10 minutes.  It wasn't at all what we'd expected.  I was hoping to get a chance to ask a lot of questions.  Our coordinator told us we could do that later, but that never happened.  I'm not sure what she meant by later.  It makes me sad for AK because there are questions we'll never have answers for.  The whole process seemed very rushed.  I know that in the end, all that matters is that we had her with us, but I still regret its not being what I had imagined.  As the week went on, we realized that this was just the way it was done.  Almost every day, we saw new families in that same spot receiving their children.  Looking back, it's very typical for China.  In the US, we'd expect to have more of 'a moment', but in China, there's never any pomp and circumstance.  For them, a loud lobby with dozens of people passing as we were given a gift we'd waited for forever was normal. 
 
We went back to the room and spent the next two hours on the bed holding Abby Kate.  She would cry a little, then suck on her two middle fingers and look at me.  Brian had to just sit beside me.  She wasn't ready for him to interact with her yet.  We tried giving her a bottle and feeding her, but she didn't want either.  At about 6 PM, we all fell asleep and didn't get up till the next morning.  AK slept between us the whole night.  She flopped all over the place, but of course we didn't mind.  We were woken up around 5:30 AM  to some sweet babbling by AK.  Then she saw Brian, realized she wasn't at home, and started crying.  As long as I was holding her, she was ok.  It's been over a week now since we've become parents to this amazing little girl.  She's nothing now like she was when we met.  She's full of spunk, smiles, laughter, and opinions.  She definitely lets us know if things aren't going her way!  We are so blessed to have her and so thankful to the Lord for bringing us to this point.  We know our future holds lots of adventure with this little girl!