Day 2: Forever Ours

Sunday was only a day that HE could orchestrate.  It started with Dan and both waking up at 1 in the morning and could not get back to sleep.  It wasn’t nerves or anxiousness that was keeping us awake.  We were up calm and excited to meet our girl.

 

We got into Xi’an around 11:30 and were set to meet Noelle at 4:00.  We fell asleep and woke up with only 10 minutes to get ready before Tom, our guide, was due to pick us up.

 

When we got the adoption office there were 3 other families from other agencies waiting.  We were there for about 5 minutes and then Tom stepped aside to look at some of the paperwork.  Then women just started walking in the room with babies.  The room was quite small to begin with and all the extra bodies in there made it cramped.  More women walked in the room and because there was really no room for them to go anywhere they just stopped in front of Dan and I.  I looked down and there she was!  Right in front of us.  They didn’t recognize us and were trying to get the attention of the official as to where Noelle’s parents were so Dan tapped one of them on the shoulder and said “Baba, Mama” and pointed to Noelle.  They told Noelle who we were and she just smiled. 

She reached out to hold my hand and just smiled the whole time.  It was evident that she was very prepared and VERY loved by the staff there.  The director of the orphanage generally only brings one additional staff member but she brought 4 because they are so “in love” with her.  They gave us a photo album of Noelle and it was clear that the clothes that she had on were all brand new.  I think it was more difficult on them saying goodbye than Noelle saying goodbye.  When it was time for them to leave Noelle just smiled and said “bye bye.”  The girl was ready.   Not one tear; nothing but smiles.  When we were leaving the office she grabbed mine and Dan’s hands and we were off - just like that.  When we got in the car, Dan and I just looked at each other and said, what just happened?  Do things like this really happen this easy?  We aren’t naïve.  We know that this is adoption and adoption is a roller coaster but yesterday was the perfect Forever Family Day.

 

A few observations about her:

She’s not shy.  We went to a restaurant last night and when she had enough of her non-Chinese speaking parents not getting the job done with what she wanted, she got out of her seat and went and found an employee and told them she wanted.

 

Remember how much the nannies loved her?  Well I think someone was a bit spoiled and got whatever she wanted.  She likes to have smile stare downs when she wants something. 

 

The girl has a stubborn, I can do attitude.  She doesn’t like help doing anything so that is something that we are working on even on day two.

 

Thank you all so much for lifting us up in prayer...they are being felt!