Monday May 4th Gotya Day
Well we grabbed breakfast with the Lee’s and then came back
to the room for final preparations. We
met Ming Ming in the lobby and were off to the Civil Affairs office across
town, about a 30 minute drive. As we
arrived two other families arrived, one couple from NJ who had a daughter from
Laura’s province about her age adopted shortly after Laura, they were adopting
another little girl. The other family
was from England adopting a blind boy and then us and the Lee’s.
We sat down to do paperwork and had to read and sign many
documents, many in Chinese with English translations. We are basically foster parents for the
first 24 hours, a trial period to make sure that you want to go through with
the adoption. We will go back to tomorrow
to finalize things and to make it official but we know this is our child and
there is no going back. After all the
paperwork we had to go to another room to pay the fees and orphanage
donation. Let’s just say that our money
belts are a lot lighter and thinner now!
Then back to the conference room to wait. After a few short minutes they said they are
here. We looked and Joshua came in the
door holding the hand of a care giver and another lady was holding the Lee’s
little girl. By the way she was in the same
room with Joshua at the orphanage so they know each other. Xi Qian (Joshua) walked right over to me and
smiled. We hugged and I moved out of the
way so momma could hold him. He was
very easy going and came right to each of us.
Shaun jumped in to help give him things.
The orphanage staff had brought back everything we had ever
sent him, two bags of items. They also presented us with a chop with his name
on it and a wonderful photo book of Joshua since he had been with them. Such a priceless gift to have showing his
first 2 years of life. We could tell
that they had prepared him and had been showing him our photos. He warmed up quickly and did not cry
much. He did get upset when the nannie
held him for a photo and then returned him to us for a family photo. But Cheerio’s did the trick to get past that.
After a bit we were finished there and headed to Lotus (Like
Wal Mart) to shop for a few things we needed.
The 2 children were getting tired and hungry. In the store Joshua was taking everything in,
he was responding to loud sounds and looking toward noise. He
seems to be hearing some but his ears are much worse than we had expected but
this can be addressed in due time.
After Lotus it was time to head back to the hotel for
naps. Josh got sleepy but woke up when
we arrived at the hotel. Back at the
room he sat on the floor and played with a toy and ate some chips and then took
a bottle from momma. We had some Chinese noodle dishes for lunch
(not bad). We put him down for his nap but he would not go to sleep so finally
daddy picked him up and rocked him to sleep.
He seems very comfortable with both of us and was very relaxed in my
arms.
He is a very sweet boy and has a smile as big as Texas. He is tiny (smaller than we expected) and I
have not heard him say any words yet but the orphanage staff said he is saying
basic words like mamma and baba (daddy).
We have heard him whimper a few times but not even a full blown cry yet.
It is amazing to us how God can place love like this in your
heart, bring you half way around the world to meet a child that you have only
seen in photos and the love you have for them is as strong as for even your
biological children. After months of working through lots of
paperwork, paying lots of fees, saying lots of prayers and jumping hurdles that
get in the way, we made it to this day the day that Yang Xi Qian would become
Joshua XiQian Collier our son! Adoption is the gospel lived out right before
your eyes. This little boy is my son, he
is now a Collier with all the rights and privileges that come with that name. He does not look like us, he is not perfect
but he is my son. In the same way that
God adopted me when I was not perfect but yet He took me in and loved me.
We are thankful for the gift of adoption. For how God has used us to adopt children and
for how He adopted us into his family. I
learn something new every time we adopt and it changes me every time in several
ways. I am thankful that God chose us to
be here for this day and that He chose us to be this little boys parents. It has been amazing so far on this trip to
see how God has gone before us and prepared the way for us to get here to our
son.
That’s it for now, more later. Today is the day!
Here is the photo link again. http://s168.photobucket.com/user/factech1/slideshow/2015%20China
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