Gotcha Day

I could use a couple of paragraphs to tell you all about leaving Hong Kong and our flight to Nanchang but we all know what you really want to know about-- Ryan.

We checked into our rooms about 2:30 and had to meet at 3:00 to do paperwork. Babies were to arrive at 5:00. We went over paperwork and left the meeting room at 4:30 and were told to come back soon so we would be there before the babies.

We had to have 5 copies of our passport and 3 copies of our visa to take for our official adoption paperwork tomorrow and we needed it by 7:00 when we met again to sign some paperwork. I knew once I had Ryan I wouldn't be able to leave to make the copies so I quick grabbed my passport and headed to the business office to get the copies. By the time I got back it was already 4:45 so I quickly grabbed the kids, mom and the cameras and headed upstairs. When we got there the other two families had their babies!!! And babies were crying! But no Ryan.

So we waited until about 5:15 with both Julia and especially Jenna being extremely impatient. Finally around the corner came a group of people: a man, a woman, little girl and a toddler boy. The little boy was wearing the ball cap we sent as well as the T shirt we sent him. There was Ryan.

{Editors Note: The official photographer of the event was 5 year old Jenna so please bear with the not so perfect photos.}


Ryan standing in the doorway to the room looking at me. I just let him stand there for several minutes while they told him in Chinese that I was his new Momma. They even had his photo album and showed him our pictures and then pointed to us. Finally I asked Evelyn, our guide, if it was ok to pick him up. She said yes and the crying began.


He wanted no part of me!

He began to really howl when the orphanage director left. We stayed in the room just a little bit longer and then went back to our room. Jenna started singing to him and he stopped crying. When we got to the room I sat on the bed with him on my lap and the girls and mom all around us. Jenna and Julia kept showing him all of his toys trying to make him happier but he was having none of it. He had a cookie and a package of some kind of snack in both hands and he wasn't letting them go!

He sat on my lap for about 20-30 minutes whimpering off and on and then finally he just let loose. He cried and cried for a good 30-45 minutes. The good part was that he was leaning into me and not away from me. I would lean him back and look him in the eyes and tell him it would be all right. Finally he stopped and eventually began to play with Jenna while sitting on my lap. A while later I really had to go to the bathroom so I set him down on the bed and left the room and he began to cry again and stopped when I came back and sat beside him.

By 8:00 I was no longer at his side and he was freely playing with Jenna. He has even learned 2 English words already! Yeah and Uhoh. He seems like a VERY smart boy. I think I'm about to be outsmarted.


This is Ryan, Emma and I before he let loose the second time crying.


And this is Ryan and Jenna coloring while I was starting this post. Jenna told me she loves having a little brother.