Happy Gotcha Day!

I know, I know. You've all been on the edge of your seats waiting for an update. My sincere apologies! This is tough business when traveling alone and we've been running non-stop since I arrived. And to top it off, I can't get the wifi running in my room with the airport express. Seems I need to update the iPad before the express will work and updating the iPad takes a computer which I do not have. If you know how to update your iPad on a different computer, tell me how here and I'll see if I can track down some American college kids who I saw this morning and see if I can borrow a laptop to run a quick iPad update.

Now for the details on yesterday's Gotcha Day! Monday afternoon...

I was supposed to be down in the hotel lobby at 2pm to meet my adoption coordinator and my tour guide, but I was pacing in the room upstairs by myself and I couldn't take it anymore. I went down 20 minutes early and they were there early too, just waiting for our driver. When he arrived at 2pm, we loaded up and drove maybe 7 or 8 minutes away to the adoption office.

Gotcha Day was totally different than what I thought it would be. I thought we'd enter an office, sit down and then Hu Jing would be brought into me and i'd get to play with her for a long while. Nope. We entered the building, took the elevator to the 5th floor and I was absolutely shocked to see her there ahead of us, waiting in the hallway with a nanny from the orphanage!

She was wearing leopard print heavy knit pants and a warm red hooded sweatshirt. In China, they believe in dressing kids warm, even in 90 degree weather! How they don't have more cases of heatstroke, I'll never know! her head was pretty freshly shaved which makes her look quite a bit like a boy, but she really looked quite like the last pictures I received of her way back in October!

I really was dumbfounded that I was finally in the presence of my daughter! I didn't cry, I didn't run over to her and scoop her up. I just got down on my knees and talked to her. My tour guide gave me some snacks I could give to her and Hu Jing took them from me, pretty fearlessly. I almost cried when her hand touched mine for the very first time, but there's just something engrained in me about "saving face" and not showing emotion from my year in Japan. The Chinese share the same practice. Besides, I think a crying, hysterical new mommy might frighten the poor girl, so I held back the joyous tears.

We waited for the adoption secretary to open the office for maybe 5 minutes and then she arrived and allowed us inside. Then it was a flurry of temporary custody paperwork, and I mean a flurry! I honestly didn't get to spend much time with Hu Jing, but I observed her from the corner of my eye as she walked around the room while signed paperwork in triplicate.

At one point, Hu Jing had climbed into a desk chair and began rocking herself back and forth, a self-soothing technique. She later did the same thing, banging her head against the office door after her beloved nanny left.

There is more to tell, but I know you want pictures more than anything. Just know that my sweet girl HATES the camera! She screams bloody murder at the sight of one. Flash or no flash, she dislikes the camera with a passion I have never seen before! So, pix from Gotcha Day are few. No use traumatizing my daughter any further when her world just turned completely upside-down!

Playing with the shoes she was wearing when we met.  Sadly, they were too small for her feet.

The photo album is her security blanket.  She carries it everywhere.

The nanny from the orphanage who took the 12 hour train ride from Yulin to  Xi'an with my daughter.

While I was signing paperwork, she climbed into the chair and began rocking back and forth.