Gotcha

I thought I'd share a little more about yesterday.

We were up fairly early yesterday again. I suppose it was about 5:00 or so when we woke up, so not as early as previous days. It helps to have heavy curtains on the windows. I'm sure part of the not sleeping had to do with jitters, too. The first thing Hope said when she woke up was, "I can't wait to go meet my brother today."

So we headed down to breakfast around 7:00 with our new friends Terrie and Jason from Illinois. They met their son, Benjamin, yesterday as well. Benjamin also has microtia, but bilaterally, so our boys have a lot in common.

Breakfast here is good. There is a combination of both Chinese and Western options to fill our plates. We do not go hungry. After breakfast, we decided to stroll the area around our hotel. It seems that this hotel building was planted right in the center of a very busy street market. We'll have to venture out again with a little more confidence sometime before leaving Nanjing so we can make some purchases.

We were scheduled to meet Nancy, our guide, at 1:00 to go to the bank to exchange money for our fees needed here n Jiangsu. So our morning wandering didn't last too long. Multiple showers a day are needed here if you spend any time at all outside, so we all had to get cleaned up for the big afternoon.

Here are a few of the pictures we too as we we out and about.











Once we were ready, we walked with Nancy across to the bank. Anybody who has been through an adoption where you're unable to wire some of the fees before you travel knows what an uncomfortable part of the trip this is. But, I'm happy to report that all is well. WHEW!

Waiting for the driver...





Once that business was taken care of, we had about a half hour to wait for our driver to pick us up to head to the Civil Affairs office. He was to be here at 2:40. The rest is pretty much a whirlwind. We were so unprepared to meet Luke. For Hope's adoption all the parents see sequestered in one room and the babies were across the hall and brought in one at a time. Yesterday, we opened the door to the office and THERE HE WAS! We didn't have time to get out the camera or video camera for those first moments. But we managed to catch a few shots.


First time in Mommy's arms and snuggled right in...


Already loving jiejie...


First moments with Daddy...





So that was it. We walked in and there he was. There haven't been may tears yet, unless I take away the water bottle or a stacking cup. He truly is a happy boy. We are waiting a bit for the shoe to drop and for some grieving to begin. Tomorrow we take a train to the orphanage, so I'm expecting some emotions from both my children then. There sure is a lot to absorb. We are loving all your comments and messages. Thank you so very much for keeping us close to your hears during this time. Love to you all!

Luke slept well his first night.


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