After nearly a year of paper chasing, waiting, praying and fundraising our time has come! We left for China on January 10th. Friends of ours were kind enough to drive us to the airport in DC.
At Reagan International Airport
This was my very first time flying and it was also the first time for my girls. Jeff has flown many times before and he loves it. We were nervous yet excited!
Hailee and I loved our flight!
Jeff and Hannah are enjoying themselves!
We spent two days in Hong Kong. We actually did not do much site seeing as we were exhausted from the time change and the plane ride. We did see the Asia World-Expo, which was closed but we did walk around inside to get to the airport. We took a nice walk one day.
In Hong Kong we had a nice ocean view and watched HUGE ships and yachts go by all the time.
We flew to Nanning, Guangxi on January 13. This is Meiya's province and where they bring children being adopted from Guangxi.
Lots of smog as you can see. It is a very big city! The lights of the buildings are very beautiful at night!
Our "Gotcha Day" or as we call it "Meiya Day" was on Monday, January 14. I awoke at 4 am that morning in a cold sweat, nervous and worried. My mind raced thinking about the events that were to take place that day. I thought of her foster parents and felt a deep sadness and a heaviness in my heart for them and for Meiya. I know that they REALLY love her and took amazing care of her. I know she loves them and I just imagined how it felt when they came to take her away from the only family she has ever known. I thought about the pain her foster mama must have felt as her Yong Jie was taken from her loving arms to be seen no more. That thought haunted me! I thought about the fear Meiya had when she left her foster mama. Wondering where she was going and why wasn't mama coming? I cried thinking about all of this! I cried out to God to comfort them and calm Meiya's fears! I asked Him to calm my nerves and asked Him to help Mieya's heart prepare for us!
At 1 pm Jeff walked out of our hotel room into the lobby to see if he could see anyone yet because they were to bring her to our room. All at once he ran in, grabbed the camera and said "She is here!!" He hurried us out the door and started to video! We walked out into the lobby and there she was! Our beautiful Meiya JieLin. The sweet face that we had only seen in pictures and in our dreams. She was there right in front of us!
I saw her and cried! She was even more beautiful and precious than I ever imagined!
The social worker carried her over to us and held the album we sent Meiya in February. She showed it to Meiya and asked her in their local dialect of Cantonese who we were and she pointed to Hannah and said "Jie Jie" she pointed to Hailee and said "Jie Jie". Oh her voice!!!! To finally here her SWEET voice was music to my ears. She pointed to me and Meiya said "Mama". She pointed to Jeff and Meiya said "Baba".
Then the social worker handed her to me. Meiya studied my face and smiled! I spoke softly to her and said "Wo Ai Ni". I could not believe I was finally holding my baby girl. After all this time and all the waiting the time was here and it was real! The waiting is now over and it all happened in God's PERFECT timing!
This is Mieya's social worker and Yulin SWI's Director. They were very nice and let us know that Meiya is very popular. They said she is sort of a celebrity amongst the Ayi's and foster families. She has a very outgoing and funny personality! We could tell that they both cared deeply for her.
What a great day it was and we are so very thankful to God for his provisions and blessings. Meiya is with us now and we could not ask for a better blessing!
First photo as a family of 5. No it is not the best we have blinkers as you can tell but it is still a picture we will treasure!
PS Gotcha Day video coming soon. Stay tuned!!!
What a tough day at the clinic it was! Thankful that part is over!
