Gotcha Day!

Yesterday was the big day! We met our guide in the lobby of the hotel in the morning to finish some paperwork. He was also able to give us Leah's finding ad. All orphans in China are abandoned, and an ad must be placed in the local paper in an attempt to find the parents before the child can be placed for adoption. The ad includes a very grainy picture, as well as the date and location of her abandonment. It is likely all we will ever know about her before she came to the orphanage.

After the paperwork, we went to lunch with another Lifeline family that is here to adopt their son. We are having such a great time getting to know Matt, Lisa, and their daughters Leah and Molly.

Gotcha Day backpack is ready:

At 1:30, we all loaded up in a van to go to the government building where we would meet our children! 

Outside the building just before going in:

When we arrived, we had only sat down to wait for a few moments before Leah arrived. No huge announcement that she was coming, she just rounded the corner with an assistant director of her orphanage. She came into my arms very willingly. She sat with Greg for a bit, but then wanted to come back to me. We had brought her some snacks, and she chowed down! While eating snacks out of one bag, she found the other crackers and suckers we had brought and stashed them in her lap. She did not want anyone to take those away! We held her, looked through her backpack of goodies, and her caregiver answered our questions about her all simultaneously. It was really hard to focus on all that was happening. We are very thankful to Matt and Lisa for taking video and pictures for us. 

Saying "mmmmmm":

Listening to the answers to our questions for her caregiver:

A little while later, their son Jack arrived! It was so sweet to see them meet their precious son for the first time. 

All of us back at the hotel lobby:

This girl has no trouble eating! The caregiver said she was not a picky eater, and she was right. She had pizza last night, and at breakfast this morning she ate some congee (like a rice mash), bacon, potatoes, pastry, rice, egg, and orange juice.

Later today we will leave for the same government building to officially finalize the adoption!