Yesterday was Gotcha day. What a day! I was not able to write last night because by the time we got Lucy to sleep we were exhausted and too scared to make any noise! Here's the story of our day.
Those of you that know me will be very surprised that I did NOT blubber my way through the entire day. I woke up on Monday feeling very detached. For the sake of my mascara I decided to ride that wave for as long as I could! Our plane to Nanchang, Jiangxi did not leave until 11:00 so we had a bit of a lazy morning. We spent the morning getting organized, having breakfast (the only meal that we look forward to!) and chatting with the other parents.
Once we got to the airport we still had a good bit of time before take off. Amy, one of the other mothers. (see "Taya" in ladybug journals!) had brought along the copy of her daughter's finding add. This is an add that is placed by the orphanage in an attempt to find the birth parents. The paper she had carried hundreds of baby adds. Each had a small photo of the baby taken the day that they were found, along with their finding date and approximate birth date. It did not take the rest of us long to figure out that all of our daughters were found within a couple of weeks of each other. Suddenly we were all scouring this paper for signs of our babies. Eventually we found all of them. We caused such a commotion that people were coming over to us wanting to know what all the excitement was about!
Just before we touched down in Nanchang I started to get very nervous and anxious. It was that same feeling of dread that you get before giving a big speech or (for me) going to a doctor appointment. I expected to feel excited and emotional but I was mostly just scared! I talked to a couple of the other first-time mothers and they agreed that they also felt the same way. When we finally got to the hotel we were given instructions to go to our rooms, gather certain documents, money and orphanage gifts and then bring them to our guide. It was very good for me to have tasks to accomplish because, by this time, I was a spinning bundle of nerves! I sent Chris down to the lobby to change out some money. When he came back he said that he saw the babies coming in and that he waved at one of them. I am so glad that he was the one who went downstairs and not me. I would have accosted those poor babies!
Finally it was 4:00. Time to meet the babies. We headed down to the 3rd floor where we were to meet the babies in a conference room. When we got there the babies and their caretakers were in the room and the door was open. There were a few babies out strolling the hall as well. All the other mommies were peeking in the room trying to spot their babies. The babies all had tags on their backs with their names and their referral photo. I looked into the room but could not find Lucy. Then one of the other mothers called from the hall and said "Teresa, come here, I think this one is Lucy!" Sure enough, it was Lucy!
She was standing in the hall with the help of her caretaker. I cautiously went over to see her. I think I was much more scared than she was! Chris was videoing and taking photos while working a tiger puppet. He gets extra points for multi-tasking! She did not cry at all but was definitely tentative. Her caretaker (a man) was very wonderful with her. He was helping me to get to know her and talk to her. I got to hold her for just a little bit but then I had to give her back and go into the conference room. I couldn't have her "officially" until the orphanage director got there to hand over the babies.
As I was sitting in the conference room getting instructions I could look out into the hallway. Our little Lucy was hanging onto the railing looking down into the atrium. She was wearing a pair of split pants and her little bottom was hanging out! It was so cute that I could not stop taking pictures even though I was supposed to be listening to instructions.
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