Monday, June 16, 2008

Gotcha Day!
















Before I start, please know we cannot, for whatever reason, actually see your comments from the last day or so. We know you are responding, which is great, and we just want you to know we are not ignoring any of you--we just cannot figure out how to view our site or your comments--it just stopped working yesterday.

Well, this has been a great day. We were all awake pretty early just in anticipation of greeting Luke. After a quick breakfast, we went downstairs for a few “before” pictures to parallel some “after” pictures we planned to take at the end of the day. We met our agency rep at 8:30a.m., along with a registry official from the local government. We then drove about 20 minutes or so to get to the offices where we would meet Luke and complete paperwork. Once inside, things started moving pretty quickly. I could see Luke in another room, but had my head down signing a few papers when he was first brought into the room. He was in Melissa’s arms when I finally looked up and saw him. She was crying and he was very quiet but very attentive. I kept signing papers while Melissa visited with Luke and introduced him to all of the family members. Basically, we were to visit with him for about an hour so as to decide if we really intended to make him part of our family. Of course, that decision was made long ago. We were of course very excited to meet Luke. From my perspective, he was pretty neutral to our presence. He was not visibly upset but was instead very observant. Sometimes he would make eye contact and sometimes he would look away. Probably about what you would expect given the moment we were all sharing. As I write this, we are at the end of our day and the atmosphere is completely different. He has just had a light bath and he is playing behind me with all three kids--laughing and “talking” and very happy—it is like he has been with us forever. I am sure the transition and bonding process is not totally complete but it was what we and you all have prayed for.

I will just give you a few more guy-type facts and then will let Melissa share her thoughts. Luke had returned to the orphanage on Friday, so his time there was short, and probably helpful in his overall transition to us. We did get to meet the two nannies from his orphanage that cared for him—one of whom visited him at his foster home each week. He does take a nap each day, still enjoys two bottles per day, is a “smart baby” per the nannies, and warms slowly to people. He has been living about 1.5 hours from the orphanage with a family that had two children of their own (a 5 year old and a 3 year old, one a girl, the other a boy), as well as two (maybe 3) other foster children. So, he was in a great environment. I think it is typical, but they gave us a copy of the ad that was placed in the local paper as part of the process for declaring him abandoned. We also have a better understanding of his name in that the family name Yi was part of the county name where he was found and Duan Lu is a reference to the road where he was abandoned. The ad also includes his infant picture. For those who were betting, he is about 22.5 lbs (heavier than I expected) and has not been circumcised (that will be a rude welcome to America).

Melissa can now give you some girl-type feelings. I share all the same feelings as Dave and honestly he just puts them into words better. I was sooo nervous on the way to the registrars office, really almost sick to my stomach, but with anticipation. I was excited to see him. They cut his hair and he looked older, but it was easy to identify him. There were two other baby boys in the other room being adopted by two families from New Zealand but I could totally tell who he was. He was very cautious of us, you can tell from the pictures. But, as the day has progressed we have seen a huge improvement to the point that he is laughing!!! I’m so grateful he ate a banana and jar of carrot baby food for supper, plus some cookie for dessert. I can’t imagine doing this without Cole, Shelby and Piper they are playing and enjoying him so much. I hope the night goes well, thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.

P.S. His little fingers and toes are darling!!!!! Everything looks great. Love you all.
Missy

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