GOTCHA Day! 10/19

GOTCHA Day!!!

(As a friend calls it: God Ordained This Child's Happy Adoption Day)

We landed in Beijing late on Saturday 10/18. We thought we would have Sunday to relax but our driver said we would be going to get Maddie the next morning! I couldn't believe it! We didn't sleep much at all that night.

We all woke up around 5AM and enjoyed a very nice buffet breakfast. Our guide and driver showed up around 9AM and we headed to Maddie's orphanage. We were asked to wait in the waiting room while the director showed up. We were a little early. Then we were brought to the office. One of Maddie's caregivers brought her in and I know my heart skipped a beat or two or even more. I can't describe the feeling of seeing your child brought in to you after 8 months of waiting. Even with an out of date photo I knew it was her! They brought her right to me and I knelt down to hold her. She immediately grabbed for my face. She was, and still is, very intrigued by faces. Colby had my old camera and he took some photos. Mike took photos with our camera. Eventually we all held her, including Colby. All he said was, "She's too heavy".

From very early on Maddie would stare at us, right in our eyes. Her eyes looked so sad but yet so curious, She knew something was going on. That things were changing for her. She wasn't sure what to make of everything so she just took it all in. We gave her a little Minnie Mouse which she seemed to like. But mostly we just held her. We also had to sign a paper to take custody of her for the day. A 24 hour "trial" period. Then we were able to take her to the hotel.

The first day was a little bit of a blur. After we left the orphanage we went to eat at a KFC. We all thought that was funny because one of the first restaurants we ate at in Russia was a KFC. Since Gotcha Day we have had KFC quite a bit. We also went to a WalMart to buy a few snacks, PullUps, and a stroller. Our guide, Alice, was amazing and with her help, and a little help from some other customers, we had what we needed.

Overall, we had a busy, emotion-filled day. We finally saw our Maddie! We finally HAD our Maddie! We still had more paperwork to do but we HAD HER!!!

Headed to China 10/17!

Well, this post is a little late, OK a lot late, but I have good reasons. We made it to China! We are here! We are in Beijing. As I write this I have 2 sleeping little ones next to me. I can't believe it still!!!

We left for China on Friday, October, 17th. We had an early morning flight and Grandpa Tom and Grandma Laurie brought us to the airport. I was very nervous how Colby would react to the long plane ride, 15 hours, but he was a real trooper. We took a huge 777 plane that was equipped with a TV screen in front of every seat. Colby and Mike even played Battleship against each other! Our first flight took us to Hong Kong where we had about a 2 hour layover. Then we had a flight to Beijing. We had a driver pick us up and bring us to the Novotel right in the center of Beijing. It was late at night on Saturday 10/18 due to the 12 hour time difference, when we finally checked in. We thought we would have Sunday to rest but to our surprise the driver told us he was picking us up with our guide the next day at 9AM. We would have GOTCHA on Sunday 10/19 not Monday 10/20 like we thought. I was such a bundle of emotions. Neither Mike or I slept much that night. We would soon be a family of 4! I didn't think this day would ever come.

TA and CA!!! And a Surprise Baby Shower

WE DID IT!!!!!

WE HAVE TA!!!

WE HAVE CA!!!

Yes, we finally made it. All the paperwork chasing is over. We received out travel approval right before the Chinese holiday. It arrived on 10/1, just before I could have a panic attack. It came! It really came!

The next step after our travel approval was for our agency to request a Consulate appointment and have it confirmed. Our agency asked for a Consulate appointment for 10/30 with a Gotcha Day of 10/20. That's in less than 2 weeks! Oh my gosh! 

We had to wait for the Consulate to reopen yesterday to get our Consulate appointment confirmed but they approved it right away. Our agency emailed me with the confirmation yesterday and all I could do all day was walk through the halls at school singing:

"I'm a leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again."

(Yes, you can sing along too!) My students thought I was crazy and the teachers were all happy for me. I wish I could say they are all excited for me, but it really is different. They are all very excited about the teacher who is pregnant and due in February, but with me, they seem interested but not overly excited. I guess it is hard to understand. Hopefully they will all be excited when I bring her by for a visit.

On the other hand, I have AMAZING friends here in town. I really think the best thing Mike and I did was move here. We have found, and Colby has found such a great group of friends. Mike is Colby's Cub Scout leader and two of my friends help him as assistants. Four of our friends (Moms to Colby's friends) tricked me into going to the Cub Scout meeting last night. They threw us a surprise baby shower. Little cupcakes and cookies and juice for the boys and presents for Maddie. I was so surprised I was crying. Mike was shocked. We've never had friends care so much for us. We received some great gifts including a hand-sewn bunny, my favorite color green, a cute dress, photo album, tea set, and so much more. LOVE true friends and we really have found some. 

So, 10 days to get packed for 4, tickets booked, work organized, and a house organized. Not sure how I will do it but we are headed out!!!

Maddie Here We Come!!!!

Watch out China, Colby's coming to town!!!