Gotcha Day! August 8, 2016

Before getting her: Oh my gosh it’s here. The day we’ve been thinking about and preparing for for 4 years, and yet I feel totally unprepared! After landing late last night, it took awhile to get settled in and settled down before we were able to lay down and attempt to sleep. I may have gotten 1 hour of sleep. I just was feeling too excited for today- kinda like when you’re having a baby the next day or getting married. You just lay awake thinking about the big day. Gotcha Day is like that. One of the biggest moments of our life, just like the birth of our 3 bio kids. But yet such a different experience than that!

I finally surrendered to sleep and put in my headphones to get some inspiration from Hillsong United. I’m digging the Empires album right now- of course I was at the concert just a few weeks ago, so I’m addicted! The words seep into my soul (sorry to be cheesy), and just makes me feel better and protected. After a few songs and time in prayer, I got up and worked on getting Scarlett’s stuff unpacked and set out for when we bring her back. This little activity got me excited and proud to bring her back as our daughter. 

Here are pics of our hotel room. Somehow we got a suite. The views from the 23rd floor are amazing!

Breakfast was again wonderful. The customer service at these hotels has been incredible. And thankfully we’ve run across many people working here who speak English. There’s a manager named David who told us to let him know how he can help. We asked for a crib in our room. Yep, it’s happening!

We saw these fish every morning when heading to breakfast.

After breakfast, we video chatted with the other kiddos back in Kansas. They were playing in the back yard and seemed totally content. Thank you, God. I’m seriously glad they aren’t missing me too much. We have the most amazing grandparents (and friends who’ve taken them in as well)! 

After that, we headed out to explore Guiyang City. It’s located in the Guizhou province- this is our daughter’s hometown. It’s so important that we take pics and get familiar with where she’s from, and we were excited to explore together.

                   

We didn't know what we were doing, so we accidentally ordered 2 potato dishes. They were so good though! 

A view of our hotel. The Novotel. Super nice. We had         

                                  a corner suite! 

Lunch before going to get Scarlett.

After (the day after- too crazy to write about on 8/8): The clock was tick tick ticking and I was watching every minute, feeling more nervous as the time got closer. My stomach was doing back flips and triple twists, but we decided to try a restaurant close by for lunch. It had been recommended by another family who recently adopted from Guizhou. I couldn’t tell you the name of it, but it was delicious. There were pictures to point to, but truly we had no clue what besides rice we were ordering. One of the waitresses spoke some English and she tried her best, but there was still a language barrier. I feel bad not knowing their language. So, we ended up with 2 potato dishes. They were so yummy, but we got a kick out of our ordering fail. After lunch, we headed back up to the room to get our things ready to meet Kasumi (our guide) in the lobby at 2:00. I sat on the bed and just stared into space for a bit- no idea how to feel or react in this moment. Nathan was so sweet- always hugging me and checking on me. We got into the elevator and talked about how it was similar to having our first baby- driving to the hospital for our scheduled c-section, no idea how to feel. Only this seemed scarier to me. 

Kasumi and a guy that she was training, Constantine, were waiting for us in the lobby. They were cool cucumbers- these young college age kids- I’m sure we looked freaked out. 

The drive to the adoption center was neat- we got to see more of Guiyang City and I have to say, it’s a very neat place. If I were going to live in China, this would be a great place. The weather is great too. Much cooler and less humid than in Beijing. Constantine and Kasumi spoke really good English and conversations with them made our day seem more normal, and was a great distraction. Constantine told us that he’s a recent new dad to a 4 month old baby girl. He said that he knows how we feel… I was like kinda, but man this is not the same! 

Before we knew it, we were at the adoption center and getting out of the van with all of our stuff. A backpack full of paperwork, water, snacks and gifts. A unicorn backpack for Scarlett, filled with toys, puffs, books, and bubbles. We took the elevator to the 24^th floor and the rest happened so fast. I passed my phone to Kasumi so she could video tape and the minute we walked into the room, there she was, sitting on a couch in a beautiful frilly white dress, looking just like her pictures only more gorgeous! My heart was pounding, I was in shock that this moment was actually happening and I was seeing her live. 

First pic

Getting to know mama

Our first selfie

Paperwork- Daddy's got it this time! 

Scarlett and her foster grandma, Yin Gui Fen

Our first family photo

A special photo with Yin Gui Fen, Foster Grandma

We worked on paperwork through this whole process, taking turns signing our names and putting a red thumb print on each signature. As I was doing my signatures, Nathan was interacting with Scarlett- I looked over and she was putting puffs in his mouth and laughing. This was the sweetest moment, and I could tell she was already trusting him. She did it to me, too, and we just laughed together. She’s so precious. Such a sweet personality, but with some spunk, too! 

The paperwork was double-checked, we gathered our stuff, and headed out of the adoption center. Nathan carried her out. The stares were much worse now that we also had an Asian baby in our posse! By this time, I’m learning to not take it personally and ignore it or just put my perma-grin on. As we were waiting for the driver, Scarlett started getting fussy and we could tell that she was exhausted. She has a bottle that is her comfort, so we gave that to her and she was happy. Once in the car, she fell asleep on Nathan almost immediately. How precious it was to see our baby girl letting us care for her.

We headed to Walmart to get a stroller and a few other items. Nathan stayed in the car while Kasumi and Constantine took me inside. How do I describe the Guiyang Walmart? It’s something to behold. It is completely underground and at least the size (I think actually bigger) than a Walmart in the states. Seriously. It’s crazy. And it was crowded- lots of people everywhere (but since it was a Monday afternoon, it wasn’t actually crowded…). We quickly got what we needed and got back to the van. Did I already say that kids don’t ride in car seats here? Oh no- they ride on your lap, which is just crazy because the driving is like nothing I’ve ever seen! I can’t believe that a.) we’ve only seen 1 accident, and 2.) we haven’t been in an accident ourselves! 

We made it back to the hotel with Scarlett still sleeping (she woke up when we had to get out of the van and only seemed mildly confused for a bit- no crying). After getting to the hotel room, we showed her some toys and tried to play. It was clear that she was still tired, so we laid her down with a bottle on the bed and she was asleep very quickly. At this time, the people came into our hotel room to do the money currency exchange for the orphanage donation and other fees. Since it’s so much money, it’s done in the hotel room which is a good thing. 

You go in the doors and down escalators. Their Walmart is probably bigger than ours and it's all underground! 

Walmart is under this. 

This is the parking garage entrance. We went there twice. A memorable experience for sure!

They don't let you take pics there. I'm such a rebel. 

Sleeping in the hotel room after the exhausting afternoon. 

The bottle is her comfort. 

I'm biased, but I just think this the most precious thing ever. She was made perfect. 

We woke Scarlett up at 5:00 and got ready for dinner. We went down to the restaurant in our hotel and it was surreal to have Scarlett at the table with us. We had no idea what to order for her or how she was fed (was her food cut up into pieces? Did foster grandma feed her or did she eat with her hands?). We ordered a few things and found out that this child loves to eat! We tried to give her a shrimp dumpling, but it turns out that she wanted the green veggies. Maybe she’ll teach the other kids how to eat healthy. She also loved the noodles. She insisted on feeding herself and us- she loved putting noodles in mom and dad’s mouths, too. We had a blast with her at dinner. She came alive and we just fell more in love with her spunky personality. She laughed and smiled a lot. She said “Ahhh” and opened her mouth so we’d mimic her and let her feed us. She danced. She sang. She was a happy happy girl with food in her belly! We were so glad to have some feeding questions answered. We’re starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. 

We did a quick change before dinner- didn't want to get food all over her white frilly dress!

This smile. It's the best. It lights up the room!

She loves to make faces and be silly

She likes to feed us, too. Sometimes it comes out of her mouth and she wants to put it in ours!

After dinner, we played in the little kid’s playroom that’s in the restaurant. There’s not a lot to do in there, but Scarlett liked walking around and interacting with me. We did lots of kissing- she loves to play games and mimic what you do. She makes faces and laughs at herself a lot. She kept throwing her hands in the air and laughing. She was wearing a shirt that says, “Best Day Ever.” This sums it up. It really was the best day. My faith was strengthened as I saw God keep the promises He’d made to us years ago. This gift that He gave us today is truly a miracle and something that we’ll treasure forever. We laid Scarlett down for bed at 8:00 in the crib and she fell asleep on her own (with the bottle, of course). Fingers crossed for a great night of sleeping for everyone. Tomorrow is our first full day together!

Best Day Ever! What a day!!