Gotcha Day Details

The plan was to meet our guide in the lobby of our hotel at noon on Sunday where they would be bringing our sweet little one.

I slept horribly that night and was up for good at 5 a.m.
Our guide called around 11:00 to inform us that they were running late. It would be more like 1:00 p.m. before they arrived. She suggested we get something to eat. Um, yeah right. How was I supposed to eat at a time like this?! So to pass the time, Daniel and I watched the latest episode of SNL on hulu in our room.

Finally, 1:00 p.m. came and I called our guide to see if they were here or at least close.
Nope.
We decided to go on down anyway and wait.
There were three weddings that day in our hotel, so it was pretty full.
I couldn't help but think of how many lives were forever changing on this day in this one particular place.

I sat a table with our guide while Daniel paced around the hotel entry windows ready for the first possible sighting of them.

At 1:45 p.m., in walked our little Mina...

I think my heart literally stopped.

The she spotted us...

And then they just put her in my arms, which is the last place she wanted to be...

She was angry and scared. Probably completely confused too.
She was so bundled up, I could barely feel her beneath all the layers.
The first thing I noticed when holding her was her smell.
She was so stinky!
It was a combination of sweat, soiled clothing, mold, and a hint of cigarette smoke.
Her fingernails had dirt caked under every one, and her little breath smelled like rotten, old Chinese food.
She sounded congested to me, and after finding out she spent the last two nights in the orphanage -- I've concluded she probably picked up some germs during her stay.

Despite all that -- the tears, the smells, the awkwardness of meeting the orphanage director and two nannies who drove over 5+ hours then dropped her off and left 5 minutes later -- I was so insanely in love this child that I could hardly contain it.

We brought her up to our room along with our guide.
Poor thing just bawled her eyes out the entire time.

I thought I felt her go potty in her diaper.
And after our guide mentioning that she had not been changed or fed since this morning, I decided to change her diaper after attempting to get her to eat some rice.
I was amazed at the number of layers...

I finally just took her in my arms and gazed into her eyes.
That's when my tears started falling.
Soaking in the beauty and wonder of a little girl, my little girl...

There was paperwork and fingerprinting to do, but I wasn't about to put her down...

We ended up just staring at each other, quietly for quite a while.
She started squirming, so I thought maybe she just wanted some space to take it all in...
Oh, she was just pitiful!

Daniel tried to help by offering her chocolate.
I laughed at his charming attempt, and she did consider it for a moment (what girl can resist?)...

By the end of the day, she decided she didn't mind being in my arms.
In fact, that was the only place she wanted to be.
And that made me the happiest Mama in the world!

She slept with us in our bed and tossed and turned most of the night.
She woke up around 1 a.m. and we gave her a bottle and she went back to sleep.
At one point in the night, she had her arms and legs wrapped around my arm...it was heaven.

It was an emotional day from start to finish.
We have a long way to go, but I'm amazed at how far we've already come in just 24 hours.
God is so good, and we are beyond thankful that He would choose to bless us so richly with a second precious daughter.

Much more to come...

Quick prayer request: That Mina would start warming up to Daniel. She's 100% all about me and cries any time Daniel tries to come near her. It's breaking his heart. He has literally tried everything -- just this evening he juggled two oranges and a smiley face ball for her. She grinned at him, and I'm pretty sure he went straight to the moon.