Gotch Day - Monday, March 27, 2017
Today is the day we met our precious new daughter! After all of the paperwork, all of the stress, all of the prayers and sleepless nights, the day was FINALLY here. The closer we got to the adoption center, the more excited and nervous we got. But the meeting was truly orcastrated by God and could not have gone any better! Cheyenne, two of the nannies and the orphanage director were there waiting for us when we arrived. Cheyenne was sitting peacefully on the couch. When the four of us walked in, she got up and walked over to us. Nathan reached out to shake her hand and she did, then Casey and then then daddy. When she went to shake my hand I asked her for a hug. She immediately gave me a hug without any hesitation and then kissed me on the cheek. Then she gave Kevin a hug and kiss on the cheek. Then she started unpacking a small backpack she had and showing us everything in it. It was mainly the things we sent her in the care package including the photo book of all of us. She started turning the pages of the book and pointing each of us out like "Mama" and point to the real person. All we had to do at this time was meet her and sign a 24 hour guardianship form. They have you take the child for a 24 hour "blending" period to ensure you are sure you want to go through with the adoption. Then you bring the child back the next day to sign all official adoption documents. She played beautifully with Nathan and Casey while we took care of signing the paper and getting official paperwork which we were to complete and return the next day. We then took several pictures. When we were finished, she grabbed Kevin and I by the hand and started to leave without even saying good-bye to the nannies or the director. Even after we asked her if she wanted to (through our guide), she simply stopped, waved, and then took our hands again.
While we were talking to them, they gave us a photo albumn that includes photos of her going back all the way to her original baby picture. They also gave me the thumb drive I sent to them with the care package and told us it is filled with more photos of her. They told us when she got our care package, she was very excited to have a family. They say she went around showing all the other kids our photos and telling them we were her Mama and Baba and showed her house and brothers. She would often kiss the pictures of me and Kevin. :)
We left the adoption center and went to lunch. She and Casey bonded over making funny faces at each other. We then went to the mall and bought her some new shoes becuase the ones she had on were way too tight. Afterwards, we went to the hotel and we all played, watched a movie and just got to be a family. We went to dinner. After dinner we came back to the hotel and I gave her a bath, blow dried her her and braided it. By that time, it was pretty much time to go to sleep.
She didn't show any signs of grief or sadness all day, so we truly feel our prayers were answered!
Offically a Back child!, Tuesday, March 28, 2017
We would like to officially introduce you to the newest Back...introducing Cheyenne Jingxian Back! Today, we finalized the adoption on the China side. We went back to the adoption center with our completed forms in hand. They asked us a series of questions like "Is everything you provided to the China Center for Childrens Welfare and Adoption still accurate?" and "Why do you want to adopt this child?", etc. Then Kevin and I had to stamp our finger prints on the documents. Once our fingerprints were on everything, Cheyenne had to place her entire handprint on two of the documents...one for them and one for us. This made us an official family!
We are so very blessed to have this little girl in our family. She is so spunky. She plays so well with both of the boys and takes turns loving on both me and Kevin (although, she insists on sitting on Kevin's lap in the car and holding only his hand when we go out). She is already showing us her personality and has already started learning and using many English words. She is very bright and it is obvious how well she will fit in with all of us.
While we were at the adoption center, my eyes filled up with tears as I was thinking about all of the signs we've had along the way that this has been fully orcastrated by God. Here is the list I came up with in just the few minutes I was thinking about it:
- Both Kevin and Cheyenne have the same birth day (3/17)
- Cheyenne was born on 3/17/2009. In late 2008, early 2009, Kevin and I were going through a rough patch in our marriage. We decided to go to counseling to make it work. Our last counseling session was on 3/16/2009.
- Cheyenne was listed on the adoption agency's website under the name of "Stephanie". We got matched with her the same week my sister-in-law Stephanie was rediagnosed with the newest cancer that took her life. To me, this is a sign that life does go on.
- We were fortunate enough to get over half of the adoption costs in an inheritance Kevin received from his Grandma Back. We will be finalizing the adoption on the American side on Grandma's birthday.
- Cheyenne's orphanage is located in a city named Shiyan. The Chinese pronounce it like "She-yen" but if you apply the American phenetics to it, it would be pronounced Shy-ann (like Cheyenne
Cheyenne is still not showing any signs of grief or sadness. We were worried about how she would react to seeing the nannies and director again. Fortunately, while she seemed happy to see them, she was still very attached to the four of us and didn't blink an eye when they left.
Tomorrow we are getting up early and taking a bullet train to Shiyan to visit her orphanage. We're a little worried about how she will react to going back there and how she will act when it is time to leave, but I have faith that she will be ok and I pray it will give her closure. I want to have the pictures and memories to be able to tell her about it and show her when she gets older and starts to ask. To me, having the piece of her history is worth the risk.
I have a ton of pictures but unfortunately, my technology is not cooperating here in China, so I will have to add them when we get home.
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