This is our dear daughter Zhong San Hui. She is 4 years old and is waiting for us in Zhongshan Children's Welfare Institute in Zhongshan City, in Guangdong Province in People's Republic of China. We receive Pre-Approval (PA) to adopt her on April 8, 2011. We are on day 70 waiting for our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China which will make her officially ours. We cannot travel until we receive LOA. Hopefully it will come soon!
Today was adoption finalization day. When we adopted Gracie, we had Gotcha Day and the adoption finalization on the same day at the same time. Now, China often gives families a 24 hour "honeymoon" of sorts. This was the exact spot when Gemma's first adoption was disrupted last November. We were afraid that she would have flashbacks to that time. Also, we had to go back to the same office where we received Gemma yesterday and where she had, ahem...a meltdown. We were really terrified that she would definitely remember the fear she expressed there yesterday. We were praying HARD all morning and all the way to the office.
Well, once again, God proved himself faithful (like I really need him to prove himself again and again, right?)! But he continues to show himself faithful and merciful--Gemma was absolutely FINE at the civil affairs office today. No flashbacks, no meltdowns, no sadness. It was as if God wiped her memory clean of that fear, just like we tried to wipe her t
Whew! What a day! In the words of the wisest 7-year-old I know, today was "tough--tough but good." Having gone through a Gotcha Day before, you'd think we would know what to expect, right? Well, right and wrong. We knew she was timid, introverted, and shy; we knew she had a previous disrupted adoption; we knew she was scared of foreigners. What we didn't know was how that would all manifest itself. Well, it was something. There were lots of tears...from Gemma and from us. There were a LOT of prayers. And the biggest thing I can say is THANK GOD FOR SIMON! He was my rock, and he was Gemma's rock too, even though she didn't know it at the time.
We arrived at the Civil Affairs Office with 1 other Lifeline family. We saw Gemma before she was handed over to us, and she looked happy. After she was given to us, it was mayhem for a while. To preserve Gemma's dignity, I won't go into details. Let's just say our hearts were breaking for her. The fear in he
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