In the adoption world “Gotcha Day” is the day you get to pick up your child from the orphanage. For us, this was also the first time we got to meet Joshua. Our Gotcha Day was January 30, 2012. Here’s the journal entry I wrote to Joshua about this special day:
January 31, 2012
We had a very long morning yesterday waiting to pick you up. We didn’t get picked up until around 12:30pm, so we had a lot of time to sit around and get anxious. I made daddy take a walk with me to get some of my nerves out. The drive to your orphanage seemed to take forever too. Jacky, another social worker that works with Che, is the one who ended up taking us with a driver. She was super nice and took videos of the whole day for us. When we got to White Cross we went to meet your social worker who told us a little about you and then we went to the office to take our donations. Then we had to wait about 15 minutes because you had just woken up from your nap and were getting changed and ready to meet us. One of your caretakers brought you down and handed you to daddy. You arched your back which is how you say you don’t like something, because you didn’t want to leave your caretaker. You were fine on daddy’s lap and then I held you and you seemed fine. You were fascinated by everything in the office. I don’t think you had ever been in there before or really anywhere else in the orphanage outside of your room. I put you down to see you walk and you just took off and started exploring everything. You sure don’t like to be held much. I think it’s because there is just too much to explore and do you don’t have time for it. We followed you around for awhile as you wandered around the orphanage and then went up to go see where you have been living. We got to see the room for infants newborn-12 months old and saw your crib, which we were told you like to rock back and forth to move closer to the other kids so you can play with them. You were suppose to move to the toddler room for 12 month olds-2 year olds, but I guess you refused to move and wouldn’t sleep in your new crib so they moved you back to the infant room. We got to meet all your friends in the infant room. There were so many beautiful children. Then we met your friends/batch mates in the toddler room. They were just being fed a snack when we got there, so they gave us some crackers to give to you. You were much too busy exploring life outside the crib to bother with snacks though. We then had a Catholic Turning Over Ceremony. This is where the Priest turns over the parental rights to us. It was a very nice ceremony even though it was different from how our church does things. The Priest had a lot of really nice things to say about us becoming a family and how we must have a lot of love for each other to open our hearts to you. Daddy shared some nice words in Tagalog to those in attendance of our thankfulness to them for caring for you and for the blessing of being able to have you join our family. We then took some pictures with the Priest, founders of your orphanage, administrative director, and some of the older orphans. There were a lot of caretakers who cared a lot about you and had tears in their eyes as they said their goodbyes. One of them told us that you were her and her sister’s favorite child at the orphanage and they were going to miss you so much. They prepared a lunch of spaghetti and bread for us and you. I think you only had a couple bites because you were still way too interested in everything around you to bother with eating. They gave us a very nice Life Book with photos of you when you were a baby and were baptized and with your friends and caretakers. They also included your schedule and the foods you like to eat. They gave us a backpack full of clothes, diapers, vitamins, formula, a couple bottles and all the stuff we had sent. We then gathered all your things, said our goodbyes and headed back to our condo with you. I think you really enjoyed the car ride. You liked looking out the window at all the cars, buildings, and trees. You then relaxed and fell asleep in my arms. I’m sure you must have been pretty tired after such a busy afternoon with so many new things.
I really wish we could have spent the whole day at the orphanage, so we could see how everything was done in order to better understand Joshua and his routines. It all just seems like a blur when I look back on it. It seemed so strange to leave the orphanage with Joshua after just meeting him. I was so worried about him not adjusting very well or freaking out once he realized nothing was ever going to be the same again. He is such an amazing little boy though. He has adjusted so beautifully into our life. After leaving the orphanage he took a little nap and then explored our condo. He was a little unsure of everything, but seemed pretty happy once he found the toys. There was a little soft rug that he loved and a scratchy one that he hated and would avoid at all cost. He discovered the pillows on our bed and was in pillow heaven. He kept running and jumping into the pillows laughing. He eventually just laid down on the hard floor and fell asleep. He didn’t ever cry that whole first day we had with him. He woke up in the middle of the night crying, probably wondering where he was but went right back to sleep after giving him a bottle. I put him in bed with me and kept trying to put my hand on him but he wouldn’t let me. He did not like being touched while he was sleeping, which is funny because now when he comes into my bed he pretty much sleeps on top of me or snuggled up next to me. Looking back now, I am shocked that he adjusted so well to us that first day and beyond, because he does not like change and we pretty much took him away from everything that was familiar and all his routines and everyone he loved, all at once. I would have freaked out. Maybe he was so distracted by all the new things that he didn’t have time to think about what he was missing or maybe it was from all the extra prayers from family and friends as we made this transition. Whatever it was, I am very thankful because it made the adjustment so much easier and allowed us to bond at a much faster rate. I am so thankful for our special little guy. He is so smart and sweet and I love him more than I ever thought possible. I will forever be thankful that we were blessed to have him in our life. He was definitely worth waiting for.
No comments:
Post a Comment