Gotcha Day...the beginning

Feel free to skip to the pictures, and then come back and read:-)

Monday was the LONGEST morning ever! We weren't leaving the hotel until 2:00, and time seemed to absolutely drag by! It was a morning of much excitement as well as much anxiety! We finally loaded up on our minivan with two other families that are here with our agency and made the 20000 minute drive to the Civil Affairs office. Ok, so maybe it was 20, but it seemed much longer! The drive through Guangzhou was amazing. It seems safer to drive through New York City. But what an incredible people.

We finally arrived at the Civil Affairs office, knowing Mycah was probably already in the building. When we reached the room where we were to meet our children, they were all waiting for us behind the colorful curtain. Let me tell you that it's very difficult to let only a curtain separate mamas and babas, who have waited for months or years, from their beloved children. Every few minutes another child would be lead out to their waiting parents. It was such an awesome thing to witness...a total of 28 children joined their forever families that day! Each time the curtain would open, waiting parents would try to peek in and see if they could find their little one. And guess who was sitting right by the doorway? My heart skipped a beat or 2...or more? He was perfect! Soon out he came. Definitely had the whole blank stare thing going on. But he never cried. He feet weren't moving too fast though. He was definitely hesitant. But after I pulled out a small Mickey Mouse, a couple of dum dums, and an airplane, he seemed to relax a little. We sat and played and talked to one of the orphanage workers for a while. I learned he will eat everything, likes small cars and toys, sleeps well, and goes by the nickname "Ban Ban" (which is pronounced like the ice cream treats Bon Bons. :-). We spent a few more minutes together, took a trip to the bathroom (my first squatty potty experience...glad he knew what he was doing!), and signed a few papers for temporary guardianship. Then back to the hotel with my precious little guy! A few hours later we ventured out with some friends to a local Mexican restaurant. The owner spoke Spanish...a language I understand much better than Chinese! Still working on that:-)

All in all it was a Gotcha Day of which one only dares to dream about. We are so blessed to have Mycah Junbin...my heart grew more than you can imagine the minute he walked out of that curtain!

Special thanks to my amazing friend Sonia Martin for the priceless pictures. What a treasure! You can check out her blog for the lighter side of our trip.

www.cheaperbythehalfdozens.blogspot.com