An Amazing Day

I woke up this morning at 4 am and made myself stay in bed until 5am. I couldn't sleep anymore. I have played it over and over a thousand times, what would it be like when we first saw her and how would she be when she first left those she loved? Well now we know.

First, to tie up some loose ends; we found out that our paperwork mix-up was just a misuse of terms. Our guide didn't mean "referral" she meant "travel approval". She said that I shouldn't have worried. Is she kidding? She has no idea what a paperwork misstep can cause you in the U.S. adoption world. We know all too well and we are thankful that this was not a problem. We are also so thankful to the Lord that He provided us with two angels of mercy, Kellie and Stephen Merwin. They are friends of Phil Chambers from Briarwood. Stephen teaches English with ELIC and Kellie stays home with their 19 month old son, Miles (what a cutie!). They expect their second child in October! We were able to speak to them before we traveled and discussed getting together on Sunday. Little did we know that they would be such a tremendous resource on such issues as computer adaptors, converters, phone cards, ideas on menu choices, etc. They also graciously agreed to join us on our Gotcha Day to film our first moments with our daughter. We cannot imagine having gone through this day without them. Kellie helped me tirelessly, with her excellent Chinese, seeking out information from Hadley's Nanny that would help us in caring for her as well as taking amazing pictures. Stephen used the video camera for us and also helped with translation and thinking of excellent questions. If we are posting these pictures properly (big if) there is a picture of the Merwin's, Eva, our guide, and us close to this sentence.

We were so glad to have our cameras out when we walked into the door of the Civil Affairs Office(CAO) because our sweet Hadley was sitting right there, by the door in the lap of her Nanny that had cared for her from 9 days old(when she was left at the orphanage) until 18 months old. She is the beautiful lady that was in the picture that has been on our counter since last January. She was very sweet and you could tell that she loved Hadley. I think that Hadley's most recent Nanny will be there on Thursday when we go to the orphanage. We know, from our friends the Willards, that when they told Hadley's present Nanny that we were coming soon she became very upset, so today might have been too hard for her. We are so thankful for the Lord answering our prayers and allowing women to invest time and love into our little girl until we could get to her. He did that---He sustained her, just as He promised us He would do.

Hadley was very nervous at the CAO, she clutched two suckers tightly, and avoided our smiles. She pushed deep into the lap of her Nanny. She is so beautiful. Pat and I immediately recognized her when we walked in the room. She is amazingly healthy. Let's just say she will fit in very well with the Eddins' crew and Pat and I will have great biceps by the time we get home from carrying her around.

The toys and snacks we brought did little to entice her, which is understandable. You could just see in that little face how nervous she was. When we asked about her personality, they said she "very smart, outgoing, loves colors and musical toys, likes to be the boss." Uh-oh Sam, you are in for a run for your money as soon as sister gets settled in.

She sleeps in a bed, not crib, is potty trained (except for night-time diapers). She is a light sleeper and has been in her Foster Mom's apt. since she was 18 months old. She sleeps in a bed by herself (often foster families put more than one child in a bed) but is one of 5 children in her foster family. She goes by the nickname "Jiao-Jiao", Jiao is her given Chinese first name. We are calling her that for now. She tolerated a lot of pictures but soon started to cry whenever she saw the flash go off. We came back to the hotel and planned to go find a kid's potty chair. She was extremely unnerved by the hotel room so instead of the Merwin's going to get the chair for us, we decided to all go. Hadley or "Jiao-Jiao" was much happier outside of the hotel room. We had to discuss getting rid of the crib and getting a toddler bed brought to our room with the hotel staff. The front desk people wanted to get a look at her size first I think before they would even consider it. Most likely she will be sleeping with me.

On our walk, we were so excited that she let us both hold her and she drank some yogurt - the Chinese yogurt is much thinner. I was thrilled she was confortable enough to even drink. She let Pat carry her some, too - amazing to me after such a short time. Kellie helped us pick out something for lunch and told Hadley in Chinese that we would feed her lunch and then she could go for her nap. Hadley ate up the fried rice with salmon and miso soup and yawned her way through lunch. She passed out on my shoulder on the way back to the hotel where she is now asleep in the bed. We know she will wake up scared, but for now...all is good and we are thrilled and thankful to the Lord for carrying us this far. Thank you for your prayers. This is definitely a surreal experience.

Gracie, Cole and Sam - isn't she beautiful - look what God did for us. He is faithful. We love you, Mom and Dad, or MaMa and BaBa in Chinese.