Gotcha Day

Morning:

SO much anticipation, work, prayer, and love went into this moment. This morning, I found it hard to realize that it was really happening! I spent the morning running around the room like nervous just as any father does when his wife is in labor. With one slight difference; I’m alone in a foreign country with over 30,000 RMB strapped to my body.  I had to go to the Bank of China this morning to get the bulk of our funds converted to Chinese currency. This was for the orphanage donation and remaining fees.

Afternoon:

The day went so quickly that I couldn’t believe it was time to go! My guide and translator, Jack, arrived at 1:30, we reviewed paperwork, counted money, and headed for the Adoption Registry Center. We got there around 2:00 and shortly after arriving, they brought Camellia out! At the time there were 2 other families waiting.

 

I don’t have too many photos as I captured most of the moments on video. But she is a real sweetie! We stayed together at the Registry Center for about 15 minutes.

She even climbed up on my lap and enjoyed a snack of crackers that she had tightly gripped in her hand. I put the Hello Kitty Backpack on her that Nicki got for her and she is so tiny that she about fell over backwards! She held my hand and we walked into the elevator and loaded ourselves into the van. She sat next to me and just took it all in while eating her crackers.

She finished these and I offered her some chocolate Raisinettes.  She gobbled those up and even nodded when Jack asked her in Chinese if she liked them.

We got back to the hotel, recapped with Jack the events for tomorrow (more paperwork), and he left. After he left and it was the two of us, she teared up, stuck her bottom lip out so big, and began to cry. The stress of the whole ordeal was too much. I picked her up and got a tissue. She proceeded to show me everywhere she needed a tear wiped up by pointing with her tiny dingy finger. This lasted just a brief moment as I realized that it was much too quiet in the room by ourselves, so I turned on some TV, laid on the floor next to her and played. I even got her to smile!

 

Once she was doing better, I opened up Skype and Nicki even got a chance to see her. She even waved at Nicki in the camera! We played in front of the laptop camera for about an hour with Nicki watching until the horrible internet connection finally dropped the call and wouldn’t reconnect.

Evening:

Evening was full of excitement. The hotel brought us a stroller to use and we headed out to get some dinner. As I was making my way out of the hotel, I ran into a group of 3 other families who were also adopting through All God’s Children International. They all got here on the 26^th of October and will be heading home Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Camellia and I joined them for dinner. We found a nice authentic Chinese restaurant in the heart of the city that was recommended by our guide.

The restaurant went into a panic when 14 Americans show up with 4 Chinese orphans in their arms. They sat us at two large round tables. Then there was the ordering… the orphanage indicated that Camellia likes rice and noodles. So I ordered her some rice and a Lamb dish for us to share. There was a giant lazy susan on the table so I suggested to the group that this was going to be family style. My suggestion went unnoticed as the group proceeded to order individual plates for everyone. The result was 4 platters piled with noodles, more shrimp than you could imagine, BBQ Beef and countless other dishes that we had no idea what they were as we ordered by pointing at pictures. When the food came out, Camellia was starving so I got her a plate of the lamb dish mixed with rice. Next challenge: NO FORKS!!! So Daddy proceeded to feed her for her first meal with only Chopsticks. It was memorable as I don’t know how to use Chopsticks. At one point, she took them from me and tried herself, with much more success than I was having. A waitress noticed and finally brought over a spoon. In the meantime, she keeps eating the rice and lamb but keeps looking at me and making sounds, sticking her tongue out and saying something in Chinese. Well I’m stressed enough by the chopsticks and I don’t understand what she is saying. So then I finally try my first bite of my food. IT SET MY MOUTH ON FIRE!!! What I thought were sesame seeds in the picture were in fact chili pepper seeds. My first meal with my daughter and I’m feeding her Lamb covered in Chili peppers! After I realized what was going on I then understood why her little yellow skin was turning red and her nose was running. One of the other moms noticed too and we got her a plate of noodles. Let me tell you, this girl can eat noodles! She ate more than I can describe.

 

Her belly was bulging out by the time we finished. We finished up and headed back to the room.

 

I managed to successfully give her a bath, change her and get her ready for bed. I even managed to brush her teeth for what I’m convinced is the first time in her life. Nicki made the wonderful suggestion of my brushing mine while she watched. So I brought her in the bathroom and started, then showed her the tooth brush for her, she got excited and tried it! We Skyped with Nicki and the kids which was absolutely wonderful to see everyone together for the first time. Things got a little tricky as the kids were trying to tell Camellia bye bye. They waved, she waved back and then put her shoes on and pointed at the door. Not understanding, she thought she was headed back to the orphanage. I settled her down and tried to get her to go to bed. Orphan or not, she is still a 4 year old so that was a challenge. She started out in her crib, but I ended up having to get in bed and hold her for about an hour. I then realized she hadn’t been held before so she really didn’t know why I kept holding her to get her to go to sleep. Once I finally realized this, I laid her in the crib beside the bed and kept my hand on her for a while until she fell asleep. Then I was finally able to sneak out and write this.

God worked a miracle through Nicki and I today. I love my wife so much and really miss her right now. I miss the kids terribly too. And now that she’s here, the days can't come fast enough for me to get home to them.  Praise God for what He has done and will continue to do in the life of this little girl. And a huge thank you to everyone for your prayers and support!