Guess what?

Yep you guessed it...  I am awake again and it's only 3am...  one would think that now that we have Lauren I could sleep.  Not so much!  Guess who just walked through the door, Mark! Oh well.  So since I have a moment, those might not come my way for a while, I thought I would share your gotcha day story... but first how about this?

So it went something like this... 

Our flight from Beijing was about 45 minutes late.  When we came out of the terminal our Holt Adoption Agency guide, Tracy, was there waiting for us.  I wouldn't say she was rushing us but a sense of urgency was there.  We all jumped into the van and off we went.  We had a 50 minute drive from the airport to the hotel.  Mark and I were very shock by the sights we were seeing out the window.  Huge apartment towers, mountains, old Chinese junks (Fuzhou is a coastal city), stunning temples... Fujian is beautiful.  As we drove and the emotions poured over us Tracy went over the events and warned us that because we are under a tight time line it might be a bit chaotic.  During all of this Emma was in the back of the van "trying to take a nap" which wasn't working.  She was so excited!!!!  I could barely breath and my emotions were all over.  Tracy told us that she had met Lauren and she seemed to not like strangers.  When I asked if she was a happy baby her reply was, "I wouldn't say she is happy."  Ok, so now Mark and I are getting very nervous.  She prepared us that next several days would probably be very difficult.  Lauren was very close to her foster mother and this would be hard on her... I thought to myself, "I was prepared for this but it is now a reality." We can do this!  We pull up to the hotel, check in and Tracy tells us to go to our room and get the documents we need for this meeting. We are on the 9th floor and to meet her on the 3rd floor.  No time to catch our breath, as while we were standing at the front desk checking in, a group of Chinese ladys came into the lobby holding babies.  I really didn't want to meet like this... we didn't have anything ready.  So, Tracy starts to the elevators, and I just knew we would be getting in the elevator and she (Lauren) would be there too.  I hung back to catch myself and when I looked up, Mark nodded to me it was ok...the ladies with the babies had already gone up in the elevator.  He knew what I was doing.  We got to the room dumped our stuff, I tore open the suitcase to find a few toys to take and off we went. It was like we were in a dream.  We got off the elevator on the 3rd floor and Tracy was waiting.  We went in this tiny room where there seemed to be a million people, and there she was... this is what we saw....

I instantly started crying.  Tracy asked if that was our baby and I could not speak but nodded.  She said you can go get her.  It was so loud in that room and everything seemed so surreal.  I was telling, well really yelling, "Get the camera, take pictures.  I want this moment on film." Poor guy, he wanted his moment too.  Bad mommy I guess.  I went and sat down next to her and she started to cry, cry and cry.  The Nanny from the orphanage handed her over and I lost it...  Emma was sitting next to me and I think she was very nervous and scared.  I assured her that I was crying happy tears!  Mark snapped a few pictures at which time we were yanked over to take a family photo, without Emma for the Chinese passport application.  It took forever to get and then Emma lost it!  Tears and fear... I felt so bad for her.  I got up and hugged her tight.  Again, Mark was yanked away to start filling our paperwork.  He didn't even get to hold her.  He had tears in his eyes and just wanted a moment to see his new beautiful daughter... no time.  More paperwork.  There were 4 families total and all the children were crying. It was very sad.  I started to sing to Lauren, just making up words because I could not think of a single song.  Once I started to sing she stopped crying... and she hasn't cried since... Mark finally got his moment and when she locked eyes with Mark... BOND!!!!  She follows his every move. We finished our paperwork and that was it.  Tracy had a bag of things the foster mother sent - some formula, a bottle and a bunch of "snacks" which really is a bunch of candy.  I think she really wanted the best for her!  That was that!  We came back to the room and started to snap a few pictures at which time we could tell Emma was not happy.  She was sad, nervous and jealous.  It really did shock me... then I had to think... if Mark and I felt overwhelmed what she must feel has to be 10 times worse.  We hugged her and comforted her.  Tried to get her set up for a moment with anything we could think of.  We were all hungry but going out to eat was not an option.  Room service was the ticket.  During all of this we had so much to organize.... so much to do.  But we need a moment. 

Lauren, wow...  I needed to change her diaper and she was burning up...so I slowly peeled off one of the 4 layers of clothing.  With each layer her size got smaller and smaller.  I couldn't believe how tiny she was.  We noticed her cute little birthmark on her knee.  I took off her diaper and found a very bad rash, along with Mongolian blue butt!!!  So cute.  We wiped her down and put her in some jammies and just held her.  She is so calm.  Takes it all in.  Looks around.  She would stare at me in the eyes as if she knew.  She would let me kiss on her.  When Mark had her, the same thing.  She is really looking at us in the eye and it seems she is feeling ok. I know it may just be shock but we will take it at this point.  Mark, Emma and I took turns playing, holding and watching her while the others tried to unload our suitcases and find the supplies we needed.  It really was like it was all a dream.  We made her a bottle and ordered her beef rice noodles at the suggestion of our guide.  Evidently we have another noodle baby!  Once the food got here I cut up a bunch of noodles and I'll tell you, she can eat!!!!  She was dancing on my lap to eat!!!  It was really good to see.  Emma got a pizza but wasn't to happy with the spice of it so I made her some oatmeal!  We finally got a moment to call home and share our news.  Mark was holding her in his arms and she was falling asleep.  It was so sweet and I didn't get a picture. Emma had already passed out in her bed by this time.   We handed here off to each other while we chatted with our family.  Once we were finished it was the moment of truth... time to lay her down to sleep.  We each took a deep breath.  I started to lay her down and she started to whimper.  So I picked her back up and rocked her... her eyes closed again and I went for it.  I put her down in the crib and rubbed her back and patted her and out she went.  Asleep!  Could be get this lucky again?  Sure feels good to dream! 

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:17