Tuesday,
August 28, 2007
GOTCHA DAY!
She’s here!! Oh my, what a day. We met our guide at 10:30
to go to the Civil Affairs office in Nanchang. I can’t
quite describe how I was feeling but it was different than
anything I have ever experienced. When we got there, our
travel partners daughter was there. She was 6 years old
and sitting all by herself in this huge room. Her parents
walked in and sat next to her and she just looked at them.
Aleina had not yet arrived so I watched as this 6 year old
little girl began to slowly cry. At first, it was just
small tears but soon she began sobbing. I can’t even
imagine what this child has to be feeling.
I got up to walk away with tears in my eyes when our
partners said, “Donna, here she comes.” I walked over to
the long hallway and there she was getting off the
elevator with the orphanage director. When she saw me, she
stopped and stared at me. I got down on my knees to say
hello to her but she wouldn’t walk any further. After a
bit of urging from the director, she took very small steps
forward. I think the director was trying to tell her to
hug me but I didn’t want to push myself on her. I waited a
bit before reaching out to her. The orphanage director sat
down and put her next to him on the bench and I sat on the
other side of her. She then decided to look only at the
director. It was kind of funny because she would look at
me out of the corner of her eyes but when I looked at her,
she would quickly look away.
Eventually, she came to me and then it was time to go. In
the meantime, the family with the 6 year old had to carry
her screaming and kicking out of the building. Poor child.
I carried Aleina down the elevator and out to the van and
off we went. When we got to the hotel, we went to our room
for about 10 minutes. She had absolutely NO expression on
her face. Kind of like the first picture on this post. She
didn’t smile, cry, or look sad in the least bit. We went
to lunch and to my surprise she let me feed her and boy
can she eat! We came back to the room and she seemed ok.
I started to think that we were lucky. The other family
was having quite a time with their daughter as she was
trying to flee the room. I thought we were in the clear
when all of a sudden she began to sob!! At first she made
small sounds and then she began to wail. She was kicking
and pushing me away. I held her and rocked her. It was
about 1:30 by this time and I figured she was tired and
missing her foster mother. Finally, at 2:15, she stopped
sobbing and fell asleep in my arms. Oh and by the way, she
isn’t tiny. She’s a big girl. My arms were numb and I
began to wish that I had lifted weights before coming to
China. She took a quick power nap and then we were off
again to do some paperwork.
During the paperwork, she was very clingy to me. She would
watch me and stand as close as possible to me at all
times. She even took my finger and began to swing our
arms. She smiled a couple of times too. Then we came back
to the hotel, had dinner and came back to our room.
Apparently, our room is a place that Aleina does not want
to be. After playing for about 15 minutes, she began to
cry again. I put on her pj’s and laid on the bed with her
while she sobbed again. She has a wonderful set of lungs
and is very stubborn. Again, she cried for about 45
minutes. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Did you notice her hair? I knew that it would be cut
short! They buzzed it off because of the heat. No bows or
clips for a while as it sticks straight up in the air. She
doesn’t look much like her pictures that we had received.
She has a beautiful complexion and when she smiles, it can
melt your heart. Hopefully, we will get some of those on
camera!!
I will write again tomorrow. Wish us luck!! |
Here I
am!
Aren’t I cute?
I’m pooped!
Pretty in pink
Mommy and me
|
