Our Gotcha Day Tradition

Seven years ago tonight, Dan and I were standing in an orphanage in Samara, Russia waiting to pick up our baby girls.  We had no idea of the adventures and changes our lives were going to go through at the time, but wow, what a ride it has been.  It hasn't always been easy.  As a matter of fact, a lot of it has been down right hard, but God has orchestrated every minute of it.  I am forever thankful that He gave us our girls (and our little man).  The Marriott in Moscow was decorated with beautiful gingerbread houses so every year on Gotcha Day, the kids and I decorate houses.  Dan and my mom joined in tonight and apparently, this is the first Gotcha Day Dan has been home for because he says he's never helped decorate them.  And trust me, I would have enlisted his help if he'd been here.  It's like our wedding anniversary...as long as he was at the main event, the rest is just a bonus (right?).  The kids look forward to this activity every year and this year was no exception.  We had a wonderful time and my Dad was kind enough to play photographer for us.

I dug into my adoption box for the first time and pulled out Russian coloring books and paper dolls to give the kids.  I've been waiting for them to be old enough, but not be too old, to appreciate and enjoy them. 

Seven Years Ago Today

My thoughts always turn to our daughters and their adoption as we approach Thanksgiving.  I never miss a Gotcha Day (December 1st), but sometimes November 4th slips past me without me realizing.  On November 4, 2003, Dan and I met Jaelyn and Allie for the very first time.  I want to cry thinking about how blessed we have been to get to be their parents.  Life isn't always easy, but I can't imagine my life any other way.

I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane.  Want to come?  This is my journal entry from our first trip to Russia ~

Wow, where do I start? I guess the beginning. Our flight left Atlanta at12:40 last Saturday morning. I was really antsy to get going, so we left the house an hour early (at 9) and then had to sit at the airport for 2 hours. That flight was over-booked and they kept asking for people to take another flight. I was really scared they were going to bump people....but they didn't and we made it safely to New York and onto the plane for Moscow. The plane trip to Moscow was around 9 hours. It was dark the whole way, so we slept on and off. I was too excited to sleep much (true the entire trip). We talked with a couple on the plane who works at the US embassy in Moscow. They told us to call the embassy if we needed any help - that they love helping adoptive parents - it's the highlight of their job. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but our flight was probably about 75% Russian and 25% American. All the announcements were in English and Russian. Customs in Moscow was easy - we went through the passport control, got our luggage and then went through customs. We had been told to go through the red line and declare our money, but they've changed the laws and you only go through the red line if you have more than $10,000 each. We walked straight through the green line.

When we left customs, we saw lots of people with signs. We started scanning for our name - we didn't see it. That was kind of scary. There were taxi drivers everywhere crowding around us asking us if we needed a ride. Dan went in hunt of our Amrex person, while I waited in the corner with our luggage. I kept looking towards the entrance to the area and finally saw a man rushing up with our name on his sign. Our Amrex guy's name was Val and he was awesome. He had been at the airport the whole time, but when he went to meet us, he realized he left his sign at home. He had gone to make another one. We grabbed our bags and he took us to a domestic flight window to buy our tickets to Samara. We were supposed to pay in rubles (we hadn't changed money yet) so he worked out with the women for us to pay in dollars. We were disappointed when he told us we'd be flying out on Monday night (the day we thought we'd meet the girls), but instead of spending Monday and Tuesday at the orphanage, we spent Tues. and Wed.) Next we headed to his car. I don't know what I was expecting, but he drove a really nice BMW (with seat belts). The drive to our hotel was a little scary. Apparently, just like laws in Russia are suggestions, so are the lines on the road. Yikes!!!! We made it safely though. Our hotel was really nice (the Israeli PM was staying there as well as the British band Ah Ha - remember them). Dan and I were both exhausted. We decided to rest on Sunday and then sights see Monday. Well, it rained all day Monday and we were still tired so we just rested. (Jet lag really kicked our butts).

Val picked us up about 4 on Monday to head to the airport (a different one then we flew into - we saw a total of 3 airport in Moscow and 1 in Samara). At the airport, we met 2 other American families that we traveled with (Scott and Christy, mid 20s from Ohio and Larry and Maxine, 40 something from FL). The only time we were really cold in Russia was boarding the plane to and from Samara. We had to wait in line outside the terminal to catch a bus to take us to the tarmac. They packed us in the bus like sardines (it won't be fun with the kids). Then we waited in line outside the plane as people climbed up the steps. The plane was packed, tiny seats, close together (and encase no one has mentioned it, Russian people don't bath a lot (hope I don't offend anyone), but that flight stunk!!!). The flight was about an hour and a half and then we repeated the bus process in Samara.

Our facilitator, Natasha, met us at the airport and we all piled in a van and headed an hour to Togliatti (we didn't get to stay in Samara at the Renaissance). Our hotel, the Ziguly Hotel, was only 5 minutes from the orphanage, but it was a real Russian dive. One of the other couples had $500 stolen out of their suitcase while we were there (it was their emergency money and it was hidden in their suitcase - someone broke into their suitcase). The 6 of us stayed up late that night talking in the hotel bar/restaurant. The menu was only in Russian and we didn't do very well ordering - boy are we glad we took lots of snacks. I didn't sleep at all Monday night. I was too anxious. I finally got up and organized what I was taking to the orphanage the next morning (donations and gifts). We left the hotel the next morning at 10 to drive to the orphanage. No one slept much the night before. We all kept saying we couldn't believe we were in Russia and about to meet our children.

Now for the part you've all been waiting for...The orphanage was in the middle of some old apartments. It was old, but clean. There were murals of animals painted on the walls. We were led inside, down a few halls, up some stairs and into a big room. We didn't know what to expect (if we'd meet with the director, doctor first or meet the kids). We all just kind of stood around. All the sudden the door opened and their stood a little girl with a huge pink and white bow in her hair (that was the first thing I saw). It was my little Jaelyn. She was wearing a pink dress with white knee socks and red leather shoes. She was beautiful. She took one look around the room and started crying. Her caregiver picked her up and comforted her and then handed her to me. It was an overwhelming moment - I don't think I can describe it and give it justice. I just held her tight and cried. Dan stood and rubbed both of our backs. I'm uncertain of what happened next. It's really a blur to me. I know the other couple's babies were brought in (Christy and Scott, a 10 mo old boy and a 9 mo old girl, Larry and Maxine, a 8 mo old girl) and then the door opened again and all I saw were Gerber cheeks - our little Alexandra. Dan took her. She was also crying. The first day was a little hard because our babies cried off and on ALL day and the others didn't cry at all. I kept thinking "What am I doing wrong." We got out all of our toys. I finally started giving Jaelyn Cheerios and she warmed right up to me. Alexandra just felt bad.

Jaelyn is going to be very head strong. Her caregivers told me she gets mad quickly, but she also calms down quickly. She is a favorite in her room, I'd say and is spoiled. She kept crying at us and we'd pick her up or give her a cheerio. We finally realized there were no tears with her cry. She was working us!!! Just a few hours and she already had us trained to do what she wanted. She would shake her head no when she didn't want something. She says several words already - momma (which of course I loved and I think she actually called me momma a few times), dah, nyet, we heard something that sounds like da da, but she was actually saying die die (probably not spelling it right). It means give me, give me in Russian. She loves her bows. They put bows in all the girls’ hair. They told me if the other girl in her room (there was only one other that I saw when I took her to feed her lunch) has a bow and Jaelyn doesn't, she'll go to her caregivers and point to her head to let them know she wants one. After I gave her lunch, they let me watch as they put her on the "pot." We won’t' be doing that at home yet. I don't know how much she weighs in pounds, but she is a little pudge. You should see her thighs, they are huge. By the end of day one, Jaelyn was very clingy with me. She would sit in my lap or between my legs. One time she wanted a toy out of reach, but she didn't want to leave me. I told her to hold onto my legs and get the toy - SHE DID. I don't know if it's possible for her to understand us that quickly, but she seemed to follow basic commands from us. I took her back to her room the first day and she was happy to see her caregiver. She left me easily, but waved bye to me.

The second day she came in crying. Dan pretty much held her on his chest all morning. I didn't know what the matter was, but we could tell she didn't feel good. About mid morning, I sat on the floor playing with blocks with her. All of the sudden, it felt like her butt exploded (it wasn't funny at the time - I quickly checked my pants because I was sure everything had made it out of her diaper) Thankfully it didn't. My first diaper I got to change was a nasty diarrhea diaper. She had 2 more like that in 30 minutes. They had given her a new fruit that morning - pomegranate. They gave her medicine after the second diaper and gave her a bath after the 2nd and 3rd. After that, she was fine, smiling and laughing the rest of the afternoon. She cried when they took her away that afternoon. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to be sad until afterwards. The caregivers showed up at the door to take all the babies (and they took them fast, without much chance to say goodbye), then we had to clean up the room quickly and head to the airport.

Alexandra came in the first day crying big tears. She was hot and her cheeks were bright red. She obviously didn't feel good. She played a little the first day. She started out in a heavy sleeper so I changed her into a light weight one (the room was hot). I got in trouble because I didn't put socks on her. She did better in the light weight sleeper and she hated the socks. She kept trying to kick them off. Alexandra is doing great developmentally. She is crawling short distance. She is pushing up on her hands and feet. She can sit for a little while without support. Dan and I weren't very good parents a few times. We would sit her up and then turn to talk to someone and she'd fall over when we weren't looking (we have it on video - it's funny). She was a big girl and didn't cry. She liked us to stand her up. I actually walked her across the floor a few times - I would try to sit her down, but she refused. She wanted to stand. I am very impressed with her. She turned 7 months the day we left Moscow. I was mostly concerned the first night that we didn't see a lot of emotion from her. No smiles or laughter. I was thinking it was because she didn't feel good, we were over-stimulating her, or there was another issue we didn't know about.

The second day I really need to see some emotion and interaction with us or her caregivers. And of course, God heard!!! The second day she came in with rosy cheeks, not bright red, on fire cheeks. We got lots of laughs and smiles. We even heard some babbling. It was funny because I said I needed to see smiles and another Mom said she needs to see some crying. Her little Alexia cried just about all day on Wednesday. Alexandra is going to be our thinker. She spends lot of time studying everything. Her eyes are still blue now, but there are several flecks of brown. My guess is that she'll have brown eyes.

Dan and I are so happy with our girls. They are perfect! I miss them already and can't wait to go back. Our facilitator had us sign our set Bs (forms formally accepting the referral that go to court to start the court process) on Tuesday; so we were guessing that something was up. At dinner that night (she took us to an Italian place for pizza for dinner - Italian food in Russia) she was really coy when we asked if she knew about court dates. At first she said she'd tell us the next day. Then she said she'd see us in a month...she wouldn't say anymore. We of course all speculated when we might be back. The second day, we bugged our facilitator's assistant (Natasha was the facilitator, her assistant Anna, stayed with us and translated for the doctor and caregivers) and she wouldn't tell us. Then when no one was looking she mouthed the words "Dec. 1" to me. Later, Natasha came in and she told us our agencies would have to tell us. We bugged her some more and reminded her that she had promised us the night before. So she said our court date Dec. 1st, but it isn't official yet. We have to wait to get the official word from our agencies before we can schedule our trip. I talked with our SW this morning and she had the Dec. 1 date, but also said it wasn't official yet. She told me our original court date had been Nov. 24th. Do you believe it? My medicals expire in 2 weeks, so I have to have them redone, but Dan's are still good. So only one more piece of paperwork.

Now we spend the next 2 weeks and 6 days (we are flying out Thanksgiving morning so we'll have time to sight see a little in Moscow) to finish getting our house together and prepare to bring the girls home.