Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Gotcha Day!!

We had 2 posts from this day- and what an incredible day it was!!



One last road to travel...

One last way to go...

One more day to forever...

just to let you know...

The wait is finally over..

the journey now is through...

And now this comes to let you know...

Dreams really do come true.- unknown



We are up really early, too excited to sleep. Kenli should be leaving her orphanage soon to begin her journey to us. To everyone following this journal, please say an extra prayer for Kenli today. I can't even begin to imagine how overwhelming this day will be for her. She is facing a 4 hr ride even though she most likely hasn't been outside of the orphanage since 2 days old or ever been in a car.The sights will too much for her to process as she looks out the window. New sounds and smells will overtake her; then she will be handed off to complete strangers who look and sound like no one she has ever been around before. I truely can't imagine how hard this day will be for her. While we have spent the past 2 years, thinking about, praying for, and longing to hold her- the same doesn't hold true for her. And while we know that she is headed to a wonderful home where she will be loved and held and never again be cold, hungry, or lonely, she will only know overwhelming fear of these complete strangers. We ask that you pray that we will be able to comfort her in her times of distress, And that she will quickly bond to her forever family, realizing how much she is truely loved. We speak daily of what a miracle and blessing this child really is. We have waited for her for 2 and 1/2 years and now... today will become a reality. Matthew 17:20 says "If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed... nothing shall be impossible to you." Today that will evident as we start a new journey. Thanks to everyone for your love and support, Kenli has the biggest fan club of anyone I know. Only 5 hrs to"Gotcha Day". Love, Amy


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Then a later post:



Life is not measured in the number of breaths you take- but in the moments that take your breath away... Today was breath taking!!! What an amazing journey this has been.We arrived at the civil affairs office before the babies. When they walked in, we recogonized Kenli right away. She took one good look around and began to cry, then cried harder and harder until they had to take her into the hall to attempt to calm her down because she was upsetting all the other babies. All this BEFORE we got her, and things went downhill from there. After they handed her off to us, she was unconsolable. Thrashing her head, arching her back, snot bubbles and all. It was horrible to not be able to comfort her in any way. This continued on the bus all the way back to the hotel. But once we got back to the hotel and took a few layers of clothes off, she began to calm down. I know everyone's prayers were working because within about 30 mins, she was happy and giggling. We have had an amazing day with Kenli, she seems to be bonding well to both of us and will reach for us to hold her. She can walk quite well and has made about 20 laps around the hotel hallway and had a trip to the hotel playroom. She has wavy hair and lots of it. She had her first bath and did quite well with that. She doesn't seem to care too much for her bottles, but ate half of a bannana and some rice congee. We didn't get that many pictures from today, we are having some trouble with our camera, but we did get everything on video. I know everyone is waiting to see more pictures and hopefully that will happen tomorrow. I can tell you that she is beautiful. The day ended with fireworks outside our hotel room window. We aren't sure what the fireworks were originally scheduled for, but as we videoed Kenli watching them, we told her it was all of China celebrating her gotcha day with us. At least that is what it felt like for us. To all of the families still waiting, know that while the wait is incredibly hard, it is all worth it in the end. All children come for God, for the some the journey home just takes a little longer. We know that Kenli is the one God has been planning to be our daughter and his timing is perfect.


Ms. Wu, the assistant orphanage director, handed us our dream.

Kenli still speaks of Ms. Wu and always says her name when she sees her in a picture. It is comforting to know that her first home holds happy memories for her.















First bath




Getting to know Baba































Today, two years later, I still find it hard to put this day into words. It is truely unexplainable to anyone who hasn't experienced it. This is probably why I feel such a strong bond to our travel group, our extended "spicy family". They lived this day with us, they felt what we felt, and cried as we cried. While we were strangers just a few months before this day, on October 29th, 2007, we became and always will be family.

On this day, our journey with Kenli began. She continues to amaze us every day. She is truely a blessing to us and everyone she comes in contact with.



1 comment:

Tracy said...

Oh Amy your post made me cry. I agree - we experienced something so magical and amazing that day together that it gives me chills to think about it.

How cute that Charlotte and Kenli had the exact same two layers of clothes on. :)

Happy two years!