Monday Aug 31st. Gotcha Day!

It's difficult to capture all of our thoughts and emotions regarding the events of Gotcha day... but I'll give it a whirl. We arrived at the Civil Affairs office at 3 pm. Within minutes, two ladies walked in... with a baby! At first, we didn't even know if it was Huayou. Frankly, it was all a blur! Huayou was desparately clinging to her nanny. The nanny tried to pry her off to hand her to us, but I quickly put a stop to it. I've heard horror stories of these poor terrified children being abruptly ripped away from their caregivers and handed over to complete strangers! We had one hour with the nannies at the Civil Affairs office. No need to make the transition any more difficult for Huayou. She doesn't know us. We look funny. And she can't understand us. She cried and cried. As you can see from the photos.. so did I. It was so painful to watch. She was soo scared. So confused. The nanny got all misty too. That really did me in! Of course, the nanny only speaks Mandarin. So, we had to rely on our guide, Mike, to translate for us. The nanny told us about her eating and sleeping schedule. She said that Huayou is a 'very good girl.' She likes to imitate adults and her favorite toy is the nanny's cell phone! What a hoot!! Eventually, Huayou went to Daddy. She still was crying, but she at least let him hold her. As we've said before, we wanted her to cry. Not because of the pain, but because the tears indicate that she is aware, and she has formed an attachment to her caregivers. And that's a good thing. Lori M. Baylor