Gotcha Day!!

Gotcha Day!


Today was Gotcha Day! We met in the hotel lobby at 2:30pm and then boarded a bus to go to the Civil Affairs office of Guangzhou. There was a lot of nervous energy from all the families as Martin explained how things were going to proceed. They would bring the babies in one family at a time and then we would have a question and answer session with the agency assistant director. We went up to the 5th floor of the building and were placed in a small room. Martin told us where to stand when it was everyone's turn so pictures could be taken. Then he said, "Ok, let's start."
We were first. Everyone else in the room was glad we were first. Despite the fact that they all wanted their babies right now, they were very nervous about the whole thing. As the nanny brought Tenley in Martin introduced her by her Chinese name of Qiu Li Hao. Everyone took a deep breath as they handed this little angel to us. She didn't cry or squirm but just looked around at all the strange people she had never seen before. Many pictures were taken and we were blind from the flashes. As we moved out of the way for the next couple Tenley just seemed overwhelmed by the whole event.
That was enough for her. Within the next 5 mins Tenley went to sleep. 7 other families met their daughters today. Some cried, some looked around in wonder, some slept. For the most part they were happy. After all the babies had been presented, the asst. director was brought around to meet everyone and answer questions. We asked the usual where was she found, what time does she eat or sleep, when she is upset what soothes her, etc. Anything we could think of. Michelle had a set of questions all typed up so we just went by those.
After all the questions were answered we presented the Director and Asst. Director with lucky money, a box of See's candy and some new clothes for other babies at the orphanage. In a few minutes we were back on the bus and on our way back to the hotel. A full day for miss Tenley!