What a week! On Monday, we woke with excitement and nervousness. "How scared is she going to be?," we wondered. At 2:10pm, six Holt families boarded the bus to go to the Civil Affairs office to meet their children. It was a very surreal feeling. After so many months and years, the time has finally come to this moment. When we walked in the civil affairs office, I had this overwhelming sense of happiness and comfort. Maybe I felt that way because we had done this before, but I was nothing but happy.
Bryan and I took our seats, but did not sit long. Who can sit down when you know your baby girl is in the next room?! The door of the room where the children were was cracked open, and sitting in a room of about 5 children, I saw her!!!! I could not believe my eyes!!! She was beautiful!!! She was playing and eating and happy as a clam with her little pigtails! The door closed, so I lost sight of her. Then I saw her walk back and forth behind the official's desk counter. It was amazing watching her in her natural demeanor. Bryan and I giggled. She looked perfect!
The very nice officials and Holt staff called us back to the meeting room. In here, we promised to always love her, care for her, give her a good life and never abuse her. Check, check, check, check!!! Finally, they brought her in!!!! She was wearing an adorable yellow dress with pink sandals. She carried a huge bouquet of flowers to give to me. And then, she dropped them and held on to the orphanage director as tight as those little arms could hold.
I could see the confusion and fear in her eyes. Heartbreaking. There are no other words. However, they put her in my arms and she cried. We were expecting this. She has been living with very loving foster parents for a year. She loved them and they loved her. It was extremely hard for all of them. Bryan and I understood completely what would probably happen.
What we weren't expecting were the tears to shut off after 3-5 minutes. We were amazed! Pleased, yes, but we want her to know she is allowed to be sad. Do you know what else surprised us?! After I hugged her and loved on her for several minutes, she reached for Baba (aka Bryan)! My heart exploded!!!! We have learned that she was very, very close to her foster father. His heart has been broken since she left. But his love and affection for her has resulted in a very well adjusted two year old. After a few pictures and some more kisses from her orphanage director, we were back out in the waiting room sitting with our beautiful happy daughter!
We had about a 20 minute ride home, but it felt like 60. The anticipation of our children meeting her was building. We walked in the hotel room with her, and each of them calmly said hello in their own way and gave her hugs. My heart exploded again!!! Going through the process of adoption, we find so much excitement, but of course there are worries and fears. One worry is how our current children will bond with their new sister. All of my worries were gone at this point. She immediately began to observe them, watching with her gorgeous brown eyes. They each wanted so badly to hold her, but they knew to give her space. The next thing I knew, she was laughing out loud! The sounds of her giggles are infectious! The immediate unconditional love is real with children!!!!
My mother and my father-in-law watched the entire experience. They were also amazed at the strong, beautiful, happy little girl! They sat back and watched our family gel. Of course, we know the gelling process takes a long time, but what a start!!
The week went on with very few glitches! We finalized the adoption on Tuesday. With Evie, this was a very traumatic time to return to where she was handed to us. We decided to take Evie with us on this trip. She wanted to be apart of it so badly, but we wanted to protect her emotions. We made the right decision!!! Poppy and Evie played in the children's room (where she waited to meet us the day before), and laughed and enjoyed each other.
Later in the week, we went sightseeing and learned more about the beauty of this country. So much history, and each area is very unique. We visited the most beautiful garden yesterday with our Holt families' group. It was extremely hot. We walked, climbed, fed fish, looked at the unique pretty flowers, and enjoyed our time together as a family! Grammy and Grandad have not winced once! They are such strong, loving, supportive parents and grandparents.
Our children are handling this trip very well. They do homework daily, find time to swim for activity, play with Poppy and read. We have visited local parks where the boys played baseball with Bryan and Grandad. Bryan and I have fit in a run and some brief gym workouts. Grammy, Evie and I have enjoyed the 5 level mall that is attached to our hotel.😊 Grandad and Bryan are really going to miss the daily sauna and steam room visits.
We're leaving today for Guangzhou. It's bittersweet. We are excited to be closer to going home, but I admit to feeling some guilt for taking Poppy away from her home province forever. I remind myself that this is God's perfect plan.
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