Four years later I know that this adoption is less about us rescuing him and more about God rescuing us...from our pride and selfishness. Here is a recap of that exciting day from our travel site Table for Ten!:
We're here! It's been a long 30 some hours but guess what... we just checked into the Mandarin Garden at 11:30 a.m. and WE GET KOOPER AT 2:00!!!!! We've got to go shower and get ready. He will not think much of his parents if we don't. Update later. Oh, my, I'm so stinkin' excited I can't stand it! God is good!!!!!!
Updated again below!
Here's what you've been waiting for ... and what we've been waiting for. Our Gotcha Day was moved up to today!
The anticipation ...
FINALLY! We meet our son!
Necessary paperwork
We are LAUGHING a lot!
Family picture
Be still my heart! Nancy suggested Kooper hold his mama's hand to cross the street. The next time we crossed the street, he grabbed my hand!
We let him call his friend tonight. It was so fun listening to him. Okay, so now he's on the phone calling another friend ;-)
The translator that has saved the day! He loves it, and so do we. He can play games and upload music ... when we figure all that out.
There's so much I want to say here. Our boy is amazing! He thinks his daddy is a goofball and he imitates everything he does! Oh great! We are seriously lacking sleep. It's been over 48 hours since we last slept, so I'll come back and fill in the gaps.
We're using a lot of made-up sign language and gestures... and did I mention we're laughing A LOT! We're going to skype the kiddos tonight! We miss you!
I admit I don't know what day to put all this on, between jet lag and the super emotional and adrenaline-powered early Gotcha! So I'll just put it on the day it happened, which I think was Wednesday the 21st :)
First and foremost, I need to praise my Father in Heaven!
I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 1 Sam 1:27
Isn't it funny how all the obstacles and trials of the wait seem to melt away when we experience God's goodness and faithfulness in His fulfilled promises!
We were exhausted by the many layovers on this journey, and though we had been told it's possible the orphanage would bring Kooper to us upon arrival, we really wanted a chance to collect our thoughts and be alert.
So when Savor (yes, it's Savor!) met us at the airport and we asked if she had anything planned for us the rest of the day, she said, "You get to meet your boy!" well, that's PRETTY BIG!
Savor had a million questions about our family, and we used the time to revive to prepare for our son. At 1:30 we had showered, found some less wrinkled clothes to wear, prayed and met Savor and Nancy in the lobby. It was a short drive to the Civil Affairs Office, and when we pulled in we saw Kooper sitting in the lobby with Coco. He turned and waved ... and I lost it!
When we entered the room, Kooper met us at the door. He is so amazing! In many of his pictures he's very stoic and appears expressionless, but he's got an amazing sense of humor. He smiles at our goofiness and laughs at his daddy's antics.
We got to ask many questions of Coco. Kooper attends the orphanage school and according to Coco is a 'so-so' student. Hmmm, better get my thinking cap on.
Next we insisted Nancy and Savor take us to the electronics store so we could find a good translator. It was quite a bargain and is really awesome! We just need to figure out what kind of transformer/convertor to use at home to charge it. And right now we don't know how to change it from English to Chinese back to Chinese so he can play the games in Chinese... the instructions are in Chinese. We'll have Savor help us today.
I fear we will become lazy with the translator though because we rush to it when he doesn't understand. He's so careful to take care of things.
When he returned from the shower last night he asked if he should wash his clothes. I told him mama would do it. I need him to know we will take care of him.
more later ... gotta go eat breakfast. I couldn't sleep past 4!
Back from breakfast. We have some social skills that need refining, but all in good time. Our boy is so polite, always holding the door for Mama and saying 'thank you.' I think he's afraid of taking too much to eat. We want to be careful for the sake of his digestive system, but we want him to know he won't go hungry.
Last night we skyped A&C and the kids. He got to talk to Kolton, Kenzie and Kayden. He says their names. Daddy was already snoring away - at 8:00 - so he didn't get to see the kids. At 8:30 I told Kooper that Mama was tired, we'd had a big day and should rest. I told him he could watch TV a little while, but he turned it off soon. He climbed into bed, I tucked him in and kissed his forehead. It was a natural thing to do, and his body language tells us he's ok with the affection ... so we're going to run with it!
There's a lot on my mind but it keeps slipping away ... maybe it will come back to me later. For Thursday we are going to the department store. Kooper brought one change of clothes, a backpack and the gifts we have sent him.
Oh yeah, the first word he typed into his translator was "Kooper." I think he was disappointed he couldn't get a meaning. I told him what Cooper means, and someday we'll get to explain his middle name, Joe, is Hebrew and derived from Joseph.
We asked Coco what he would prefer to be called, and he said Kooper. He's so easy-going.
In all honesty, we're expecting a time of grief and melt-down, and I don't know what we'll do when that happens.
Thank you for your awesome comments and prayers. They mean so much to us!
God bless you all!
|
No comments:
Post a Comment