Six months ago today we were in Nanning, China anxiously awaiting the arrival of our precious Yong Jie (Meiya). We were nervous yet super excited to meet her. It felt like a dream. I remember the very moment I found out that she had arrived to our hotel. Hannah and Hailee and I were in our hotel room while Jeff was out in the hallway checking to see if they were coming. All of the sudden he burst into our room and said "Come on!" I immediately felt my heart leap from my chest as I bolted for the door. Jeff was trying so hard to video everything but we were moving much to fast for the camera. We went around the corner and there she was! The little girl that we stared at in pictures for an entire year was finally in our presence . It was surreal to finally see her in person.
She took my breath away! She was even more beautiful in person than I ever imagined.
Her Social Worker was holding her and telling her who each of us were. "Da jie" (older sister) as she pointed to Hannah "R jie"(second oldest sister) as she pointed to Hailee. Meiya repeated her and pointed along. She finally brought her over to me and said "Mama". Meiya looked at me and it took everything in me to keep myself from bawling like a baby as she handed her over to me.
We just stared at each other. I kept telling her "Wu Ai Ni" (I love you) hoping I was pronouncing it correctly. It warmed my heart to see that she was holding the panda bear and photo album we sent her.
Me, Meiya, Hailee, Hannah, Social Worker, Orphanage Director
Jeff was still videoing everything and I could tell he was dying to get his hands on this precious child. I was not ready to let go of her yet, I couldn't! She seemed content with me and I was over the moon that it was going so well. She was not showing fear she was smiling and relaxed. I had prepared myself for her to scream and cry out of sheer terror of us and the situation because she had been through a VERY traumatic day. Earlier that morning she was taken away from the only family she had ever known and loved, her foster family. I imagined that her little heart was shattered into pieces and she was in shock. But still I was amazed by her calmness given the circumstances of her world being flipped upside down. I felt bad for her. Her social worker explained to out guide, Glen, that they had just taken her to the hospital before bringing her to us because she had been sick. It turned out that she had bronchitis. Part of me wanted to cry for her loss she had just experienced and that she was sick on top of that. I kept it together and Meiya finally started to seem interested in playing with her big sisters. (PS I am so GLAD we brought them with us because they were a HUGE help) She thought it was fun to throw the album we sent her on the floor and have them get it. They played this over and over several times with lots of giggles and clapping.
I put her down and she went over to her sisters and laughed! She wanted them to chase her around. They got up and played "Im gonna get you", which she seemed to understand because she laughed and hurried herself away, looking back to see if they were still coming. Her social worker and the director of her orphanage both laughed and told us that she liked her sisters. Jeff got this all on video too and it is absolutely precious. We are still working on our "Gotcha Day Video" when it is complete we will post it to our blog.
I finally took the camera so Jeff could hold her. It wasn't as easy for Baba as it was for mama. He finally won her over when he laid down on the floor to play with her. She thought that was hilarious.
After the social worker and orphanage director left we changed Meiya's clothes. She was hot and sweating. The poor baby was wearing a heavy snow suite and it was 70 degree's outside. To the people of her province 70 degree's is considered very cold.
Our first family picture. We are a family of blinkers. haha!
Our first day with her was amazing, a dream come true.
We feel so blessed to have her in our family. It feels like we've always had her. I can not remember life without her. Thank you Lord for blessing us with our new daughter, Meiya Jie Lin Phillis.
Meiya today!
She has adjusted beautifully! She is so sweet and funny. Meiya LOVES to get her pictures taken. She is quite a ham. When we take her pictures she says "Uh me see". Her English vocabulary is pretty good and thankfully she has retained a good bit of her Cantonese. We have friends who speak Cantonese so we make an effort to take her to visit them quite often. We really do not want
her to lose her first language.
Meiya is a very good eater and she is growing like a weed. People often think she is older than 2 but we promise she is 2. She is just big for her age.
When Meiya meets someone for the first time she is leery, which is good. The best way to win her over is to give her a fisty bump, and a high five! She loves to give fisty bumps and high fives. So if you ever meet our sweet girl give her just give her a fisty bump and high five and she will be your friend.
her to lose her first language.
Meiya is a very good eater and she is growing like a weed. People often think she is older than 2 but we promise she is 2. She is just big for her age.
When Meiya meets someone for the first time she is leery, which is good. The best way to win her over is to give her a fisty bump, and a high five! She loves to give fisty bumps and high fives. So if you ever meet our sweet girl give her just give her a fisty bump and high five and she will be your friend.
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