Happy 3rd Gotcha Day!

Hi all,

Three years ago today Kevin and I first held Emily in our arms. I still remember the surreal feeling of standing in the receiving room, listening to the official thank us and announce the entry of the babies...8 tiny girls dressed identically in pink with tiny pink sandals. All carried in by the orphanage nannies after a grueling 5-hour bus trip from the orphanage to their new Caucasian families. I can still hear the collective intake of breath from the parents, feel my husband trembling beside me in excitement, sobs catching his voice as he whispered in awe, "Honey, it's her! There she is!"

I blinked hard but couldn't see past my tears, couldn't tell which tiny girl was ours, even after gazing at her photo every day for a month, proudly showing it to strangers in stores, whoever would look at my daughter, my little girl, the only physical proof that I was going to finally be a mommy.

Suddenly, the sobs of the parents were replaced with the screams of terrified babies as the sad nannies relinquished their charges to complete strangers. I vaguely heard what sounded like "Ruiz" pronounced, and Kevin prodded me forward. I didn't even see the nanny or the orphanage director who stood with my little girl. All I did was reach out my arms, enfold her and turn quickly away so I could gaze at her.

She was so quiet! So small! Such sparse hair! She kept her head down, her thumb and pointer finger jammed in her mouth, and she barely moved. I murmured "Guai, guai" (sweet girl) and "Ni Hao, PeiPei" (Hello, PeiPei) to her, and she finally looked up into my eyes. We connected, and in that moment I became a mother. The sheer sweetness of it took my breath away, and I knew my life would never be the same. Kevin enfolded us in his embrace, and the feeling of family was so safe, so permanent.

Where has the time gone? We still have the same, sweet connection. But now our little princess spends her time playing dress up, swimming, learning to dive, picking out her own dresses, daily, performing ballet in ballet class, the grocery store, Subway (her favorite restaurant), etc. She loves her music class, and being a big sister...for the most part.

Favorite colors = purple, pink and blue.
Favorite ice cream = strawberry with sprinkles.
Favorite food = watermelon.
Favorite videos = Cinderella and any of The Wiggles.
Calls her brother "bruffy" (brother).
Calls Daddy "Daddeo".
Mommy just gets to be the Fairy Godmother.

She has a great imagination, is confident, and loves life. What a difference from that terrified little girl who refused to eat and was silent for the first year.




Here are Emily and David at our Gotcha Day celebration this evening. The kids got into my closet and party supplies and created their own fun! Too bad we didn't take photos of David eating a pink cupcake--suffice to say, he had a pink goatee and moustache that cracked Emily up!

Em spent time looking at the blog entry for her original Gotcha Day. While she doesn't understand that she has another family in China, she knows that she comes from another country, and that everyone here, and in China, was very excited to meet her. Adoption has definitely been an incredible journey for our family. Having these two kids has been the highlight of our lives, and we're so lucky, so proud to be their parents.

If you want to relive our Journey to Emily, be sure and look for the "Newer Post" link at the bottom of the page, and you can follow the journey daily using this button.

We want to wish a very Happy Gotcha Day to our fellow Travel Group #802 families: the Dillon, Gilbertson, Hootsell, Kern, Jorda, Kennedy, and Vocu families who were our constant companions during the two-week trip. We're so glad we met you, and we hope our girls can always stay connected. Happy Gotcha Day to Russ and Cindy Bolton, who received Abigail Hua one day before we received Emily PeiPei. We're so thankful our girls have each other!!

Take care everyone,

Love,

Caroline