The Crew

The Crew
Christina, Matthew, Joshua and Katie Grace XiHua

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!!! A VIDEO SEQUENCE OF MEMORIES...

I cannot believe it has been 1 year since our beautiful little girl was placed in our ams!!  

Yesterday, we celebrated Gotcha Day, which was the day we met her sweet face for the first time at the Civil Affairs Office is Guangzhou China, and took her back to our hotel. 

 Today is Adoption Day, one year after we went back to the Civil affairs office and completed the adoption paperwork. 

When we first met our daughter, Katie Grace Hua Hua, it was the most beautiful and bittersweet day!!!  

She was SO timid.  She walked up to us as prompted by her nanny.  Said "Mama, Baba".  Let us talk to her a bit, and touch her shoulders and cheeks, and look at her. She continued to look back to make sure her nanny from the orphanage was nearby.  Then I picked her up which was okay for a moment, but when she realized that she was actually going to leave with us... leave her nanny,  leave her orphanage director, leave these people she knew and go with these faces (us) that were so different, she panicked.  She began to struggle to get down, and then began to bawl.  

I will take you through those memories below, with a few of our Gotcha Day videos.  These are all really short,  so you can watch them quickly.  

In the van driving over to the Civil Affairs Office -  You can't imagine how nervous and excited we were!  Years of anticipation and joy and hard work to get to this point!




Waiting at the elevator to go upstairs




Waiting as many families get their children.  Beautiful moments!  Finally it is our turn!!  She walks over and does as prompted.  They asked me to give her this lollipop - great idea, but I couldn't open it, lol!  




 I pick her up finally and all seems to be going well until I give her a little kiss and the nanny starts to move away at the same time.  Then panic sets in for our little girl.  




She cried and cried for about 20 minutes.  Our hearts broke with hers.  Can you imagine her fears?  




Jacob had a great idea to get out the finger puppets and that really calmed her. She started to interact.  




As we went out to get into the van, her fears rose again.  My heart was so sad for her in this time.  I knew it was so heartbreaking for her little heart, yet a moment for her life to change.  



Back at the room, we began to color.  After awhile she kept looking at me for my approval on her art work.  She wanted my approval and enjoyed my praise!  



A couple hours back at the room and we have giggles!!  I kept laughing at her and she loved that!  So she kept dribbling her water!  ;-) To hear those giggles was joy to my heart.  



Later that day, after changing her wet dress from all that water, she enjoyed putting on lip balm and always looking at me for approval. 


 That night.  We had set up a crib for her, but there was no way she would let me put her in it!  She hung onto me like a baby kuala!  So, I tried to take off the removable outer bars of the crib to get her to sleep in my arms and my plan was to lay her down and put it back on. But no matter what, she would not let go of me, so she slept in bed with us, (literally stuck on me!) and we had them take the crib the next day.  From that moment she was stuck to me like glue and has been ever since!

4 comments:

  1. She has come so far in a year, hasn't she? We see the same in our Sophia. They are different little girls now. Your post was a reminder that there is always loss in adoption, but also joy and hope. Thanks for sharing these special memories!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Gotcha Day! I had tears in my eyes as I read and watched the videos. She is so precious. I cannot believe a year has gone by. Oh how fast time goes once you have for girl in your arms forever. I enjoyed the videos of you getting ready to get her in the car and elevator. I remember how that felt and could hear those emotions in your voice. Such a special time. Thanks for sharing such an important time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Gotcha Day! it really is heartbreaking, I cannot imagine how terrified they are. I"m glad Maya was the age she was when we started visiting, she never had an attachment issue's, or the fear. I"m sure if I wouldn't have moved to Guatemala and as she got older then we would have had to go thru this with her and it makes me want to cry thinking of how scared they are.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Anniversary! Those first days are so hard on our sweet babies...Sophia did the same thing with the crib. She eventually slept in it but she clung to me the first day and is still stuck like glue by my side. :)

    ReplyDelete

Many hungry children near the boarder of Myanmar and Thailand-click on photo