September 13, 2006 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.--1 Samuel 1:27 Gotcha Day! 9 MB video available here. A smaller version for dial-up connections can be seen here. We are finally parents. After many months of paperchasing, waiting, driving back and forth to Atlanta, and many hours of wondering what was going to happen next, we are finally parents. Today we and our daughter came together. As she has been in our hearts for months, today, she is in our arms. This morning, we got up, went to breakfast, and ate with two other couples. Everyone was excited. We were told to prepare certain documents, and some other things, and that at 11:00, we would leave to go get the children. At 10:30, Bruce, our facilitator, came to our room, and said, “Let’s go! We early!” So off we went! On the way to the Civil Affairs office, all of the guys had their video cameras out, and were taping everything around them. When we got there, they took us up an elevator, and into this room, and after reviewing some forms to make sure that they had correct information on who everyone was and where everyone lived. Then they brought in the babies all at once. We saw Mary Joyce, and she was asleep. Thankfully, she woke up before they gave her to us. (We didn’t want her to wake up on the bus being held by a stranger and have a major freak out session.) I’ve heard about “Gotcha Days” where the kids are screaming, everything is chaos, and there is no time for anyone to think before getting their child. This wasn’t really like that. All of the children were being held by a worker, and they called us up one at a time, and gave us our daughters. Mary Joyce is the most beautiful child we have ever seen. She didn’t cry or scream, and she even smiled at us. We gave her a toy, (Debbie, the lamb you gave us is a big hit. She loves it!!!), and after a little while, they took our picture. We went back to the hotel, and tried to feed her. She wasn’t too interested in the bottle, but Fruit Puffs are being consumed at a pretty good clip. She is also a really big wiggle worm. Changing her diaper and her clothes was a two-person job, and we almost needed reinforcements. But we got through it. Later that day… This afternoon, we went to the Civil Affairs office. We explained why we were adopting from China, and promised to always love her and take care of her. Then we went to the Notary Public’s office. A Chinese Notary Public is more like a judge than a Notary Public. Not only did she verify our documents, but she also had to give final approval. When she did so, Mary Joyce became ours in the eyes of the Chinese government. As far as they are concerned, the adoption is complete. All we need now is her Chinese passport (she’s not a US citizen until we touch down back in the states), and an entry visa from US immigration. We will get the passport later this week, and the rest in Guangzhou. If it wasn’t so frowned upon by those in charge, we would love to be able to contact her foster family, because someone there really did a good job taking care of her. Developmentally, she is almost on target, which is kind of a rarity among adoptees from China. We are starting to see more and more of her personality. She is a very active little girl. She is always on the move. Trying to get her clothes changed, for example, is an adventure every time. She isn’t belligerent; she just has other things she would rather be doing. After the notary’s office, we walked to Wal-Mart to pick up some bottled water, cokes, and baby supplies.  (For other adoptive families who are reading all of this, and finding it exhausting, we did about 3 days worth of stuff in one day.)  Mary Joyce, who had fallen asleep at the Notary’s office, slept in her Snugli all the way through the Wal-Mart trip. We ate supper with Kim, Scott, and Jaiden, and we had to eat in shifts.  Chet ate first while Dusty fed Mary Joyce.  The child loves her congee—almost as much as she loves banana fruit puffs.  Then we traded off.  Our very tired little girl had a bit of a melt-down, so we didn’t get to eat quite as much as we would have liked.  We’ll get it figured out, though.  It has been an exhausting, wonderful day for all of us. We came back to the room, and decided to get Mary Joyce ready for bed.  We were a little unsure as to how she would react to a bath, but she loved it.  Mary Joyce is finally in her crib for the night after several laps around the hall of the hotel.  Daddy was finally able to get her to drift off. Our hope and our prayers are that she sleeps through the night, tonight. We’ll see.  Enjoy the pictures! Chet, Dusty, and Mary Joyce   On the Bus, and Ready to Go!     Daddy and Mary Joyce   Mama and Mary Joyce     Mary Joyce Has a Little Lamb     I'm a pretty mobile little girl!   Our Sweet Mary Joyce     I loved my bath!     Almost Ready for Bed           This page hosted by