True Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom: Happy Gotcha Day!

Tomorrow, we celebrate one year with Liesel. We look back at this past year with all its changes and challenges, and we can't believe how fast the time has gone. It's hard to imagine that just one year ago, Hubs and I sat anxiously in our hotel room, waiting to meet our daughter for the first time. In celebration of this occasion, I thought I'd share with you my journal entries from July 14, 15, and 16. July 14 was the day we arrived in Taiyuan, Shanxi, and the 16th was the day we met Liesel. You'll see that even in our circumstances, God showed grace to me. He gave me just of Him for each moment and each difficulty we encountered. I look back and am amazed!

Saturday, July 14, 2012
I feel like everything is all wrong today. I'm totally out of sorts. We made it to Taiyuan. Our hotel is very nice, but there are only two small beds, no room for Liesel. We asked the hotel for a fold up cot, and they brought us a crib. Liesel is much to big for a crib. I think I will just have to share my bed with her if she'll let me. In the crib, she wouldn't be able to get up at night to use the restroom.

The T.V. in our room has no English channels. This wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have so much downtime. We are doing nothing tomorrow! Our Gotcha Day is Monday, and we have nothing to do until 2:30pm, probably so they can drive Liesel in from DaTong. The family we met in Beijing arrives tomorrow morning, but I have no idea what time or where they will be in our hotel.

Then for dinner, we decided to eat in a restaurant at the hotel. We needed help ordering as we have no guide, and no one speaks English here. All the stress and emotion of the day finally caught up to me, and I cried...right there at the table. The waitress brought napkins for me which was so embarrassing. On top of all that, we discovered that we won't be able to access my blog here because Blogspot is blocked. I will have to email updates out to people who want them.

Basically, all I want to do right now is grab Liesel and go home. I miss my home and Juliet. I'm missing her so much, and I still have two weeks here! I just feel so frustrated and discouraged and stressed. I need a good cry, a long bath and some fudge. As soon as Hubs gets back from the Lobby, I will have all of that!

Sunday, July 15, 2012
Today was much brighter. I thought I might cry again at breakfast, but we survived the buffet of odd foods! The morning was fairly uneventful. We chatted with Juliet, ate, made copies of documents, etc... For lunch, Hubs and I ventured out. We went to McDonald's and successfully ordered lunch. We spotted the family we met in Beijing later on and decided to go to the supermarket with them for snacks, water, etc... We found the supermarket and successfully navigated it. I even found my peanut butter. By the time we got back, it was 6pm or so. We met the new couple, Vicky and Hubert, and we all decided to go to Pizza Hut for dinner. We made it there, ordered, ate and paid without incident. It was so nice to be with like-minded people.

At dinner, all the girls sat together at one table and the guys sat at another. We just talked and shared experiences. It was wonderful. As we walked back to the hotel, I told Hubs that my soul felt refreshed. Tomorrow is Gotcha Day. Our appointment is at 2:30pm. I can't wait!

Monday, July 16, 2012
What a day! We've got Liesel, but we are calling her Zhen Zhen (Jin Jin) for now as that is what they called her at the orphanage.

The morning went by so slowly. Finally, it was almost time to go and get her. We stopped by Jeremy and Heidi's room to drop off some chopsticks and meet their daughter, M (their appointment was earlier in the morning). She was having a very hard time. She had been with a foster family her whole life, and it was very hard for her. She clung to Jeremy all day. M hardly ate anything and cried on and off all day too. Poor thing.

At the CAB office, when Liesel first came in, she didn't want anything to do with us. She had the photos we had sent and knew who we were, but she did not want to come with us. She cried a lot. Hubs finally was able to calm her down with pics of Juliet and a puzzle game on my phone. She cried the whole way back to the hotel. After we arrived, she began to calm down and even showed us a few smiles. She played and explored our room and ate on and off. I got her to take a bath, which she loved. She can brush her teeth, put on her jammies, go to the bathroom, etc... She was also repeating back a lot of English words to me. She's very smart!

At bedtime, she looked like she might cry, but she held it together and is now sleeping. We were also able to borrow Jeremy and Heidi's laptop, and we got to Skype from the room with my mom and Juliet. Both girls were pretty tickled to see one another. Juliet was saying, "Ni hao" and Liesel thought that was pretty fun.

On the way back to the hotel after our appointments this afternoon, Vicki commented that today was a good day because today there were three less orphans in the world. I know it's a small number, but she is so right. No child is insignificant in God's sight. We are making a difference in these kids lives, but God gets all the glory. I know we'll have hard days, but I also know that God is in this. I just can't wait to get her home.