Sugar lips! Enjoying the hotel breakfast buffet.
Our hotel.
Bye bye USA!
We don't have a lot to report at this point. Just that we made it to China safely after a long, long, LONG and cramped flight. It wasn't horrible...just not something we want to do again any time soon...like for at least 3 weeks. Haha!
Wow, I didn't realize you were traveling that soon! So happy you are there safe and sound. When is your gotcha day? I know you must be so happy and excited!
hey, can't be worse than a 15 hr flight with a 10 month old who is very mistrustful of you! How is Gracie holding up? I keep thinking back to that short flight where all our babies cried! Wish we were with you!
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...
Gladdie Mae went 27 days in a row wearing her Gotcha outfit. We started kidding with each other...making bets for how long she’d hold out. Then came Sunday. She didn’t change out of her pjs all day. Then Monday, the same. Then Tuesday, the same. We Thought, HOPed, PRAYED that she was turning a corner in her trust and acceptance of us. Could it finally be? Then, that tiny sliver of sunlight was shut out when the window slammed down this morning. She got dressed in her Gotcha outfit. Once again. I’m not going to lie. I was upset. I melted down. Partly from pride/jealousy. (Am I not enough for her? Why can’t she love me like she loves her foster mama?) Partly from inconvenience. (Geez, now I’m going to have to wash this outfit every night again!) But mostly from a broken heart...for my daughter. Here she is, having just had the rug pulled out from under her. Her entire world topsy-turvy. She’s trying to make sense of it all by clinging for dear life ...
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