Play By Play Gotcha Day

OK now for the big day. Oh, Tripp here. We set out to the Civil affairs office at 10am. Upon arriving and surviving a few paperwork snafus we learned the orphanage workers who were bringing Garnett from 2 hours south (remember that piece of trivia) were going to be more than 1.5 hours late due to a flat tire. So we headed back to the hotel.

As an interesting aside. Last time in China, Gotcha day was a mad house. A room full of people, babies being brought in one by one. Lots of commotion. It was great fun, but lots of mayhem. Today it was just the three of us and another family of three from another adoption agency. In a huge room. Things have really slowed down. Interestingly, this family has brought along their son. Who is about 15 or 16. His name is Avery.

On with the story. We did get Garnett! He was "delivered" to our room. So with no fanfare, our family grew. But it went VERY well. We expected crying due to the fact he was given to the orphanage officials this morning by his foster mom. He said she cried and cried. Which we knew before they arrived. But Garnett was quite and inquisitive. It didn't take long before he let Andrea hold him. Avery moved in quick. She has done very well all things considered. She has shared snacks and both have fed each other by hand. One of the greatest things about the day is we got LOTS of info from Garnett's foster mother and grandmother. His favorite blanket/towel. A picture album! With writing on the backs of the pictures. Even better they have addresses and email addresses on them! There was a card to us. Here is what one of the pictures says on the back:

"To: Bao Bao
You are going to have a happy family who believes in God. We're so happy for you. We will pray for you. Wish you a happy growth and become a Christian.
We wish you and your family a nice and peaceful trip.
Amen.
Your Chinese mom and grandma who will miss you forever."

Wow, we are so blessed he had such love and support. We know his transition will not be easy. As I type, we are having a hard time putting him down. He seems to be realizing he isn't seeing his China family. Heart wrenching.

Another interesting aside is as we were leaving this morning to get breakfast. Avery said she needed to go "potty" just as we were leaving. Not an unusual power trip for her to pull if she isn't in the mood to leave. Well as I understand it, she asked Andrea, "Mommy, can I throw up before I go potty?" And she did... Right in the toilet. So now we have a sick daughter, and we don't know how sick, just hours before going to an official Chinese Office of Civil Affairs. Needless to say we were nervous and anxious for reasons not just related to getting Garnett! Well amazingly, by the grace of God, Avery didn't get sick again, and she seems no worse for the wear tonight. We'll see tomorrow.

Now for the coolest part of the story. I went to get some yogurt and diapers for Garnett at the local Wacko market store. When I got back everyone was gone. Not unexpected because of prior conversations. So down to the lobby I went. Well when I got down there it looked Andrea was talking to someone who looked a lot like Garnett's foster Grandmother. Well what do you know, his foster Mother and Grandmother were here!!! As the story goes, and I suspect Andrea will retell it, she, Garnett, and Avery were tooling around the stores in the hotel to pass the time. Then Andrea noticed the "grandmother" looking women. She and the "mother" looking women were looking at Garnett and she thinks they said something, though not pushing themselves on them. Well Garnett obviously could not contain himself and he reached for the Grandmother. Andrea told the woman she really looked like his foster Grandmother. And that opened things up.

It was great. Garnett seems to have really had a special relationship with the grandmother (perhaps since she wasn't working he stayed with her all day). But we were able to ask more questions and they shared what they thought was important to us. You can see the picture of us on this post.

We think they must have just driven up and hung around the hotel just hoping to get a peak. The shops are very high end (not that they weren't dressed very well) and not really all that convenient to them... being two hours away. They had given us their email addresses but they wanted to make sure to get ours. I can't wait to send them pictures. It just has us on cloud nine.

There is one picture of our hotel friends: Erin, Adam, Avery, and Luna. Their first Gotcha Day!

More later...