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Gotcha Day Journal
(Lea) The top photo is from the day after Gotcha Day. It was taken on Jan 5 at a Zhengzhou government office where we adopted Grace. As of that day, she officially became ours forever. In the picture is Grace's nanny, Zhao Juan Hong, and an official from the Luoyang Children's Welfare Institute.
Gotcha Day was pretty amazing and surreal! On the morning of it, we flew with 28 other parents to be of new babies/toddlers, a few grandparents, and some older brothers and sisters from Beijing to Zhengzhou. I was tired as I basically had gotten no sleep the night before! We were met at the airport by our Chinese CCAI reps who go by the names Daphne and Ellen for the CCAI adopting families. They are sisters and were absolutely fantastic! Organized, happy and totally into their jobs. They put their whole hearts into their jobs because they care so much for the children and love to see "happy families" made. That morning, they met us with a detailed list of what we would be doing on each day in the Henan province and also gave us a detailed list of each of our new children's feeding and eating schedules and personalities. They had visited the orphanage to personally check up on each child. Additionally, they gave us Grace's formula and directions on how to make it. We then drove to the Sofitel in Zhengzhou, the capital of the province. After arriving at the hotel we had one hour before the babies would arrive from Luoyang! Keith and I scarfed down some pizza. Despite my nervous stomach, I was hungry and knew I needed energy for the night. At 3:00 pm, all of us met on the second floor in an open area. You could feel the excitement and nerves throughout the room. I talked with several other parents who I had met online months before. They were as wonderful as they had been online. We felt so lucky to get into a group of great parents. Then we were told the children had arrived. Keith and I stood together and couldn't wait to see Grace. A few minutes later, one by one the nannies brought in a child and the parents were called up. We were the second parents! They called out that Dang Xin (shin) Man (mahn) had arrived. She looked beautiful. I was crying and didn't want to scare her so Keith took her into his arms as I held out her giraffe. She immediately reached up and touched Keith's face. She loved her daddy within seconds. Then I held her and she looked up at me with her beautiful big eyes--my wonderful daughter! Within minutes she was exploring our nametags and touching our faces. She even gave us a smile! Grace was quiet, but not at all afraid. She wanted to see everything. Then her nanny, Zhao Juan Hong, came up to us and gave us the package we had sent Grace. In it was a disposable camera with all the pictures taken and the questions we had asked answered in Chinese. We learned her nickname was Man Man and that she was easygoing for the most part, but stubborn about her food and if you had something she wanted. We soon found this to be true! Her write up also said that she was very smart and alert--all true! One surprise was her size--she was tiny! In November she was said to be 19 lbs--this was most definitely not the case. She is maybe 15-16 lbs--she looks healthy, just little! We found within minutes that she was quite verbal. Her nanny got her to say "mamamamama." We then heard her say "ga," "ba," and "da." Keith and I then looked around to see all the other families with their new children. It was amazing to see and be a part of such an emotional event. There were many tears and laughter--including our own! We then went back to our hotel room to get to know Grace. What we did know, at that point, was that we couldn't imagine life without our little girl.
(Keith) "Gotcha Day" is a day that changed our lives. As I'm sure most parents know, you think and plan for the moment, but when the moment happens all is different. For example, I didn't imagine having her handed to me! All along we had planned on Lea receiving her, but as we walked forward, it seemed right. Grace eagerly came to me as I held out my arms and immediately began studying our faces to see who were were; she eagerly explored ears, mouths, and noses . . . amazing. We all fell in love immediately.
The "Gotcha Day" was a magical moment; as our group (15 families) anxiously awaited for the arrival of the babies (they were being driven from the orphanage), it was interesting to watch and reflect on the many experiences that lead all of these people to an obscure city in China for this moment. All of the to be parents and grandparents excitedly chatted and photographed/videoed the surroundings to share with their daughters later in life. Once the babies arrived and Grace was handed to us, all the other activity melted away as we focused exclusively on our new daughter. Truly a life changing moment.
Check out our Gotcha Day Photos.