In Our Arms

So every adoptive parent ok mom probably runs through what their "Gotcha Day" will look like about a million times in their head.  Each one is different, because of course each child is so different.  Ours actually turned out to be what I had hoped for, although it broke my heart all at the same time.

We got up bright and early, (as we do here in China,) and were even down in our hotel lobby extra early to meet our guide and driver and head off to the government building.  Any other day, they have been ridiculously early, but not today.  Today they were several minutes late.  Late + ridiculous traffic = no good.  So we were late to our appointment, which meant just as I had suspected...our little man had already arrived.  We were the only family who had an appointment that day, and when we walked in the room, he knew who we were.  He started crying and moved to the other side of the room as quickly as possible!  The Mister, being such a champ of a dad, worked on getting him to loosen up by sacrificing his body and basically throwing himself all over the room with a crazy game of tossing the ball between our little man, and one of the nanny's daughters who came along on the trip.  He's got the bruises to prove it!  While he was getting smiles and giggles, I was asking the nanny and orphanage director about 30 questions about our little man.  I found out that his orphanage only has 8 children...WHAT?!!?!?!  I then asked about what type of bed he sleeps in, and she mentioned that he either sleeps in his crib, or in bed with her and her daughter.   Right then it clicked.  Our baby was loved, and he loved too.  The nanny said that he had woken up in the middle of the night the previous night crying because he was already sad they had left his orphanage.  She also mentioned that he was a "sweet talker," and was well liked by everyone at the facility...old and young alike.  I need to mention that in China, orphanages are sometimes combined with senior living, so he was friends with the young and the old :)  *You can queue my tears here*  I had held it together remarkably well for me until this point, and then I got really choked up.  My sweet boy was part of a family, a great big one, and he was torn away from that.  I understand that being a part of a permanent home with us will be so much better for him in the long run, but man, my heart hurts for this guy.  Aches really, just like your heart hurts when you wish that you could take away all of the bad things in life that your kiddos have to go through.  But this one, unfortunately, he needs to go through.  So on this day, we were there to hold the tissue box, blow his nose, and wipe away those tears. 

Now I certainly don't want to make this day sound like it was filled with nothing but tears, because it wasn't people, it wasn't!  We had several hours in the afternoon full of laughter, giggles, and all out fun!  He is inquisitive, funny, adventurous and very independent!  I suppose living in a facility your whole life will tend to make you very independent.  I was amazed at what that boy could do!  He only took two short cat naps, so he was really sleepy before we had dinner.  Right before dinner, he had decided that our day long playdate was great, but he was outta here!  He put on his backpack he came with, packed up all of his other belongings they had sent him with, and was ready to go.  He kept saying he wanted to go to his mama.  Yes, I'm not the momma!  (Anyone else remember that dinosaur family show from the early 90's?  If not, "Not the momma," probably isn't funny to you!)  Ok anyway, he is definitely more of a fan of the Mister right now, but he doesn't mind me at all, and let's me get away with almost everything that the Mister can.  At this point though, he thinks he's going back to his nanny mama, so he has no need for me in that way. 

There is so much more to write, but I can fill you in on those details later...this post is crazy long already!  Just a few pictures that I'm sure everyone has already enjoyed of our sweet boy...and his delicious dimples!

Yep, he's a cool dude!

Please excuse the disaster of a room and my horrible expression!

I'm asking that all of your pray for him (and us) for today.  We need to go back the adoption official today, and his nanny and the orphanage director will be there.  Please pray for protection for his heart, and that he will not take it has hard as I think he will!