Gotcha Day Memories...2008

We arrived at our hotel around 1 p.m., and our luggage arrived at 3 something. We were all pacing the halls together waiting to get cleaned up for our big moment. We were all told to meet in the lobby at 4 p.m. which is where the above picture was taken. We were so excited to get across the street where we knew Lily was waiting on us.

Here are our friends, Beth, David, and Liana, while they were waiting, too- on Marah who is from the same orphanage as Lily.

Finally our 3-year-long wait was over! We walked across the busy Nanchang street to the Civil Affairs Office. We rode up an elevator that took forever to get on in that busy office building. We were packed in like sardines. When we got upstairs, we were told that our daughter was over there in that corner. We were trying to figure out which one was which as the one in the red jacket screamed and screamed.

Beth and I joked about who she belonged to since it was hard to clearly see their faces. Of course, you can tell that the very unhappy baby is definitely Lily. In her defense, she had been through a lot that day- a 3 hour bus ride, her first ride on a bus, and being taken away from her foster mother. Not to mention, she was probably hungry and tired.

This is the first moment she was placed in my arms. She stopped crying for about 10 seconds.
That moment was the most wonderful moment in my life. I felt filled with emotion, and I knew that God had made her just for us! I couldn't wait to get her back to our room- all to ourselves.

We took a few family photos while Lily continued to cry and scream.

But, merely an hour later, we were in our room playing. We had changed Lily into some clean clothes that we had brought for her and her mood instantly changed. She began to play with her favorite toy- her stacking cups. We had to keep two sets of those for her to take everywhere our first year together.

She looks so tiny looking back at that time. I can't believe that 2 years have passed!

These pictures show all of the clothes she had on when she was given to us. We kept the jacket which is still way too big for her now.

These are the split pants that she had on- all 3 pair.

Tomorrow night, I will post pictures of all the families that traveled with us. They have a very special place in our hearts forever!

Happy Gotcha-versary to all of our travel mates!