China Day 3: Gotcha Day!

Today was full of nerves, anticipation, elation, and pure joy; and at the same time today was full of grief for one little girl.  For those that haven't experienced a Gotcha Day, it's a mixed bag of emotions.  Meeting the precious girl in person that you've been waiting for is absolutely indescribable.  Having to then watch her grieve the loss of everything she's ever known is hard.  Watching one of her closest nannies and another employee of the orphanage say their final goodbyes was hard.  Having the first sound of her little voice we heard in person be painful cries was hard.  Watching Lucille fall asleep on Heather's chest on the van ride back to the hotel, with a lone tear running down her cheek when her eyes finally closed was hard.  Watching her little body shift between complete silence, staring at us with no emotion, to crying her little heart out the next moment continues to be hard.

But, we know this is not the real Lucille.  We've seen the videos and the joy this little girl has inside of her.  We've heard the stories from her caregivers about what she's really like.  We know she must grieve at this time, and it's a very good thing.  The fact that she is grieving so hard means she was cared for deeply and that she was loved.  It means she has the ability to be attached to her caregivers, and that she will learn to trust us.

Let's back up to the actual meeting:  We had a really hard time wasting time today!  We ate breakfast, had a paperwork meeting, went out to lunch, and just sat around the hotel room trying to waste time until 2:00pm.  That's when we met in the hotel lobby and took the van to the China Civil Affairs office.  People shoved on the elevator for the 8th floor, so much so that Steve & Ella had to wait behind for the next one.  Heather entered the big room first and there was one lady standing by the infamous curtain that leads to the kids room.  Heather could tell by her face that her child was in there.  So, Heather walked over to peek and immediately saw Lucille sitting next to her nanny.  The nanny saw Heather, and Heather waved and pointed to communicate that she was Songrui's mama!  They smiled back and leaned over to tell Lucille that mama was there.  Steve and Ella arrived a few minutes later, and before we knew it this precious little one was being brought out to meet us.  She had a stone-serious look on her face and wouldn't come to Heather until the Dum-Dum suckers came out.  :-)  She accepted nothing from Heather except a Dum-Dum, which she promptly tried to put in her mouth with the wrapper on.  We stayed in this room for another 15 minutes before the nannies left, and that's when the extreme expressions of sadness came out of this tiny body.  We can only describe it as a loud, mournful sob.

God knew what He was doing by having us bring Ella along.  We're so proud of her and how gentle she has been with her little sister.  Ella's being so helpful and really helping Lucille adjust.  Lucille constantly looks over to Ella in our room, seemingly to make sure she's still around and to see what she's doing.  She's been copying Ella playing with various toys this evening.  Just within the past hour (~6:30pm local time) Heather loaded up some Chinese kids tunes on her smartphone, and Lucille proceeded to move her hands and shake a toy to the beat. 

We know you're all waiting for pictures, so without further delay here you go!  Presenting for the first time, Lucille Marie Songrui Adolphs!