Our Gotcha Day with Remy

Our day started very early. Jordan and I have only been in China for a day so our body clocks are not the least bit regulated.  We awoke calm and excited. The only frustration was that when I went to pack my camera , it was obvious that something was wrong - it wasn't even allowing me to take a picture. I thought " you've got to be kidding me - on a day like today?"  Oh well , we both thought. We will just take our phones. We prayed together before we went to the lobby. Once downstairs I was sharing my disappointment with one of the group members and he said " I have a camera upstairs that we aren't even using so you are welcome to it "   It was such a blessing ---- so awesome.  We loaded the buses and our guides went over what the procedure would be and what to expect. There are 13 families in our group who are adopting special needs children. The babies are all around the same age with Remy being the oldest toddler at the age of 2. Then one family was adopting  a boy that was hosted in their area this past summer who was literally set to age out in the next two weeks.  The moment we laid eyes on the building - the same building that we visited just 17 months ago to adopt REX - I got all teary eyed- Here we are again !  I assumed that Remy and two other babies would be there first or at least rather quickly since we are literally in their hometown of zhengzhou. But BOY was I wrong. We waited until every baby was delivered until the Zz orphanage finally arrived with all 3 babies - Remy wasn't placed into our arms until almost 11:30!!!!! I was anxiously waiting by the door. The van pulled up. The man walked her in and bam --- she was handed over - sudden. Quick and with no words exchanged between us the man turned around and left. Remy was in my arms - and it felt good.  I immediately told her " I am your mama " in Chinese and then later pointed to her forever daddy. Remy was in complete shock and in total shut down mode. She didn't allow jordan to hold her at all and if I tried to give him a chance for the slightest snuggle she grabbed my shirt tightly. She laid her head on my shoulder and it stayed like that for most of the afternoon. After signing the 24 hour guardianship paper , we loaded up and headed back to the hotel. Once in our room she let us know that she was ONLY going to allow me into her little circle.  Jordan couldn't even touch her without her screaming. She fell asleep rather quickly and probably just out of sheer exhaustion slept rather peacefully for a bit. When she awoke - she was much more content, but that was because jordan was no where in sight and had slipped out to do 3 hrs of paperwork with our guide. But the minute she heard the hotel door open , she fell to pieces.  And thus the dance of earning her trust begins. She is grieving and bless her heart , has lost everything that she has known. Grieving is hard to watch but oh so necessary. It just royally stinks to watch her go through it. It is in turn a positive thing bc it allows us to know that she can fully form attachments and it is abundantly clear that she misses  her caretakers deeply. We will always be grateful for the sincere nurturing that she was given at her foster home. We will continue to be patient with her. We will go at her pace. We will cover our sweet girl in prayer as the lord equips us both to help restore her heart.  We already have seen progress in the short 24 hours we have had her. ( that will have to be another blog post - ha). I will say this - she is a beautiful little thing. Her face

Is round and her cheeks chubby. Her hands are delicate and her tiny little body feels so good to finally hold. She is gorgeous when she cracks a smile and we have even heard her laugh. She can say mama , baba, and even her English name already. She walks PERFECTLY and doesn't drag her foot. She knows how to play with the toys I brought and favors the stacking cups. She can jump and even pretend to dance. She can sit by herself and even pull herself up to a standing position from sitting. She is proportional - although very very 

tiny. She is quiet , reserved , but opinionated. She is fearful. Her sorrow is deep. But I do know one thing for sure - my Jesus - my lord - can restore a heart fully and completely and I am so glad that jordan and I and our entire family can watch this little girl 's heart be redeemed. 

Thank you all for the emails and fb messages. They've been so encouraging.