The Hamiter 6: Gotcha Day!

I wanted to update yall last night, but I think I fell asleep sitting up! Exhausted is an understatement as I went to bed at 9:30 the night before we got him, and I was up at 2:15....wide awake. Trace was up at 4. Restless, anxious, nervous, excited were all emotions we were feeling all day. We started the day with breakfast downstairs in the hotel, not believing the culmination of something we had thought about and prayed about for nearly 10 years was about to come to fruition. After breakfast, we headed to the grocery store in the rain, to stock up on some snacks, fruit and last minute small toys to take with us to Gotcha Day. We knew our first gift to him would of course be....an Auburn football. And of course.....he immediately started throwing it:) But we are so glad we picked up some small trucks too, because they were a great conduit to building a safety between Trace and "Chen Chen!"
After the grocery run, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with 3 other families that were getting their children too. 2 other families from Love Manor where Micah was from, and 1 from another nearby orphanage.
After paperwork, we headed upstairs to our room to do some final getting ready to meet him! I told Trace, "I feel like I'm going on a first date! I want him to think I'm pretty!:)" He felt the same way! We went to lunch with a sweet couple we have become friends with from Seattle who are also adopting a little boy from Love Manor. We came from the airport with them and have walked this road with them in CQ. It was a great lunch as we talked about our journey to this point, our families, and just had sweet fellowship and laughter. It was such a blessing.
When we got back from lunch, we waiting with the other families for our guide and bus to get here to head to the civil affairs office where we would meet Micah!
We rode the bus for about 15 minutes, and arrived at the office. Such a surreal experience. We walked in to a long room that was pretty dim, they turned the "lights" on, and it was still dim:) But that was the best it was going to get! The room was decked out in traditional Chinese decorations, with a Merry Christmas wreath on the door to boot:) Typical! This is the office where adoptions take place and international marriages. We didn't see any of those yesterday:)
Soon after we got there, the little girl who came from the other orphanage just walked right in, with her nanny! Just as if she walked in the door to school, so non chalant! She was a precious little girl, and was FULL of energy! It was really sweet and good to see the meeting happen before Micah got there. I was crying watching them, and thought, Oh boy, Cassie you need to get it together, you don't want Micah traumatized the first time he sees you because you can't hold it together:)
About 30 minutes later, we heard some stirring in the staircase outside the door, and in walks several ladies and 3 precious little people holding bags. I spotted him instantly and could not believe he was IN THE ROOM! He looked just like his pictures! He was shorter than the other 2, stocky and BUNDLED up! They recommend the mom make initial contact as the children have mostly ever known women, and if an initial bond is made, it most likely would be to the woman. Trace was close by with the video camera and still camera!
We walked over to him, I bent down and started talking to him. Bless his heart, I know he was thinking, who in the world is this woman, and what is the world is coming out of her mouth. He did look at me straight in the eyes, and let me hold his face. He was called "Chen Chen" in the orphanage, so that's what we're going with right now!
He was very skiddish and very shy initially. Really for the whole time we were there until we started throwing the football and playing with the cars! His caretakers say he is very stubborn, happy, and sometimes "naughty!" We think he didn't quite know what to do with himself yesterday, and didn't have much of a reaction at first, but the smiles came quickly after we started to play. We were able to ask a lot of questions we had written down through our guide to his nanny's and teachers. They were so helpful! We had sent him several pictures the nanny's put in a picture album, and it was so neat to see the picture album was falling apart! They had been showing it to him a lot, so he called me "mama" fairly soon! Baba, is daddy, and we couldn't get that out of him, but later that night, Trace taught him dada, and he said it! He also taught him a high 5! He will fit right in!
We stayed at the civil affairs office for about an hour, and then rode back to the hotel and were free for the rest of the day.
This was such a precious time! This time was when we heard first laughs and had a lot more smiles. We played with the trucks and ball for a long time, and this was such a sweet time to watch Micah and Trace interact and truly have lots of fun!
We put his first outfit on that we had set out for him, but he did not want to take his shirt off, so it stayed on! This was a problem too later when we gave him a bath. Bless his heart, he did NOT want to take a bath, so we had the first cry there too! He stood up the whole time... whatever works!:)
We were also able to FaceTime with the kids after bath, and it was so precious! We taught the kids wo ai ni means I love you in Chinese before we left. Taylor and Gray both said "Wo ai ni!" and HE SAID IT BACK!! He hasn't even done that with us yet. It was so cool. He would call Taylor "jie jie" and Gray "die die". (Sister and brother in mandarin)

We all crashed HARD after the phone call! Trace and I even think we were out cold before Micah fell asleep. He slept in between us in the bed last night, and slept until 6:30 on the dot this morning. Thank you Jesus! I was a little anxious about last night, have heard nightmares about sleep. I don't know what the next nights hold, but counting last nights full night of sleep a HUGE BLESSING!

I'll leave you with several pictures of our Gotcha Day! Thank you thank you thank you for all the prayers. Keep them coming! We had a great day yesterday, but there is still a very long road ahead of us.
I was just praying this morning, thank you God for being so faithful. And because of His faithfulness, I can count on His faithfulness in the future, for our bond and attachment with Micah, and for our family as a whole. Praise Jesus!

"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never fails. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. GREAT is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:21-23

So most of these are not in order, my blogging skills still aren't up to par!