First Day Together

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today was our first full day together and we really had fun, especially getting to see you for the first time. We were admittedly a little unprepared for what would happen at the Civil Affairs office because in our earlier adoptions of Lily Grace and Lucy Hope, we were in small provinces (if you consider 10s of millions of people small!) and so were the only family in the adoption room at the time of our adoption. In Lia Faith's adoption, there was one other family. So, things were pretty calm in both of those cases.

For this adoption, when we entered the Civil Affairs office, there were already 15 or so families who had just received their children and were in the process of completing the adoption. In one large room, all the families are spread out meeting their new children. There is lots of crying, mostly by the babies and children, but some by the mothers and fathers. It is noisy and chaotic! People yelling family names and bursts of excitement. Each time a family name would be called, their little group would hurry to the front of the 'pack' to receive their child. I was video taping some of this, not expecting our name to be called soon when we heard Rebecca yell "Green family, Jerry where are you?"

So, we rushed to the front just as the nannys from Maoming were coming out of the room where the children were kept. When I saw Lucy, tears welled up in my eyes because I knew now that God's plan was coming to fruition. After 14 months and a few weeks, our daughter was about to be placed into our hands and into our lives. Austin was manning his camera taking pictures and I was manning the camcorder trying my best to record the event. But, I did a poor job. The camera is going all over the place wildly videoing and capturing anything and everything, except Lucy. I heard them say "Jerry, Travel Approval -- where is it?" I didn't have it out yet, so I dropped the camcorder into my backpack, still recording, and fished out the TA. Then, they let us have Lucy. I imagine Connie was looking at me like "hurry up, what are you doing?"

The nanny handed Lucy to Connie and in that moment, we became a family of six! Lucy did not cry initially as some of the other babies did. She is very, very curious (Connie says nosy) and so was more interested in what everybody else was doing than crying. After a while, though, she did begin to cry. That's a good thing. It tells us that she realizes there's been a change in her circumstances and that she is not comfortable in that change. It's good because it tells us that she was attached to her nanny and to her environment, and that she'll be able to attach to us and her new family in due time. For now, we'll take every emotion she can produce and joy in it!

It was a very nosy, very chaotic, very emotionally draining day for all of the adoptive families. We all had to sit while each family spent time with the Civil Affairs office making sure the paperwork was in order for the actual adoption, which will take place tomorrow, March 6, 2012.

Please pray for Lucy and all the Maoming babies, as they all came to us with deep chest congestion, coughs, runny noses, and fevers! Every single one of them. But, that can be taken care of with a little medicine and a lot of love.

Initially, Lucy has picked Connie as her "care provider." Austin and I feel a little left out. Especially me since I met her (albeit for only a few minutes) last summer. Oh well, she'll eventually figure out that we're pretty nice guys and let us get closer to her.

Lily Grace and Lia Faith, for the most part, are bonding well with their new sister. Two things are evident though. Lia Faith is having a hard time with not being the baby anymore. We have to offer her comfort each time we say something good about Lucy Hope. Lia's cried a few times, but nothing that can't be solved with extra hugs and loving. The second thing is that Lucy Hope is so small (Connie says she's sure that Lucy is only 2 years old, not approaching 3), that Lily and Lia do not immediately reach out to her to bring her into their circle. It's as if they view her as a baby. Lily wants to hold her and carry her all the time. Lia just wants to sit beside her (close to mommy).

Lia did well when we got back to the hotel. Every now and then, she tears up. We think that's as much because of her cold and cough as it is her grieving for losing her entire environment. I can't wait to begin seeing that smile, as she figures out how much we love her and how much we will care for her.

The oddest thing asked of us in this day was "Do you promise not to abandon her?" And I thought, really. After 14 months of praying, building the Dossier, getting medical exams, fingerprints, home studies, financial reviews, traveling to the other side of the world, ... Are you kidding me?

More to come ...

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six ... Finally!