July 1, 2008 One Year Anniversary of Gotcha Day!

WOW! One year of having our precious daughter has arrived; it seems both that the time flew by and that we have had her forever. So much has happened in this year. It's hard to fathom our lives without Indigo. It was really wonderful because Mom and Dad were here again, this time, just back from Alaska and about to go to England. They looked after Indigo on the 1st and got to spend the day with her while we worked. We left work and met them with Indigo at the most fantastic Chinese restaurant. We had an amazing meal including the Peking Duck and some delicious Shanghai lamb dish. After a wonderful celebratory dinner we took Granny and Granddad to the airport to fly off to England.

We are posting photos of one year ago (well, let's pretend I am up to date) on July 1, 2007 when our daughter was placed in our arms. What a day that was. We left Beijing with the families that were headed to Jiangxi (13 families); it was hard to separate from the two families in our group who were heading with another group to Anhui province, but everything was suddenly happening and we could not believe that we were going to have our daughter. I will never forget that day and words will never be adequate enough to describe it. We arrived in Nanchang, the capitol of Jiangxi and all got on a bus; Kathy our guide was telling us all what to expect. We went to the hotel where we would be staying for the next 5 days and were able to take a fast shower and gather the baby essentials and then before we knew it, we were boarded on another van to head to the civil affairs office where we were getting our babies. As we arrived, there was a van where we could see a lot of babies and we all choked up. One guy who was really the comic of our group, just broke up sobbing which was just very emotional. We were laughing and crying as we made our way up in the elevator. We entered a hot, hot room filled with babies, many of them crying. I think with our group and with families from another agency there were about 21 families receiving their babies. All we had ever seen of Indigo were our few referral photos of a baby that was much younger when the pictures were taken than she was at now 13 months. Honestly, it's quite awful to realize that you won't recognize your baby. We were told that once we knew which was our baby we could be with them but under no circumstances to take them from the caregiver until all paperwork had properly changed hands, all identifying the parties, matching passports etc. So, even though it seemed crazy, it was all very official. I was pointing out a baby to David that I was sure was Indigo, and then Kathy our guide was tapping us and saying, David and Melanie, this is your baby. We turn to see this tiny solemn little face looking at us. Her hair was in two tight pigtails with green rubber bands. She was not crying but she did look like she did not want to let go of the person holding her. David was showing her her picture which was on his t-shirt. We actually had our paperwork done very quickly, probably one of the first families, and then they handed her off to us. I took her and just held her close to me, but not saying too much, just petting her and holding her tightly. She did not cry at all but I think she was too shocked. She did cling to me like a limpet and holding her was just the best feeling ever. We took her to a less crowded part of the room and just held her. You can see from the photos how she was watching everything going on. The orphanage gave us several of the items we had sent ahead for Indigo including a photo album with photos of us, the grandparents and the pets. Also, a giraffe we had sent with teething parts and taggies on it, and best of all, the disposable camera we had sent to have photos taken of her and answers to questions we had asked about her daily habits and routine. Also, in some photos you can see her holding this little purple thing - that is a pencil sharpner, still in its packaging. When we sent the care package for the orphanage we had included a lot of pencils etc. for older children - we had put in several pencil sharpners and they obviously given her one in the packaging and she was really attached to it. After some time we reboarded the bus, this time with our precious cargo. Indigo drank some water from a bottle. Once back at the hotel, Kathy took the husbands to shop for the formula that the babies were used to and I stayed with Indigo in the room. I changed her into new clothes since she was so hot and sweaty but tried not to do much else that would be too much stimulation. She hated having her clothes taken off but did seem to feel so much better once the new clothes were on. What will never cease to amaze me is that by later that afternoon she was already sitting up and engaging and playing and smiling! It was just incredible. We just felt so lucky. It's impossible to relay with words the experience of this total miracle - I know that all our fellow adoptive families will concur. So enjoy the photos of her on July 1, 2007 - Gotcha Day and one year later on July 1, 2008 - my, how she has grown!

The next day was super special and wonderful. Indigo and I got together on July 2 for a Gotcha day celebration and picnic with three of the moms with whom we had gone to China and brought home our daughters. The girls had the most wonderful time tearing around the grass and then we went to a national park that is an old working farm. The girls had a blast chasing chickens and seeing the big Belgian draft horses, going on a tractor ride and petting cows at the end. It was a wonderful and special super day being with these families whom we had come to know through our long long wait for our girls and with whom we had traveled to China for the most momentous and joyous occasion of our lives.