Six months ago (June 29, 2014), was Emily's "gotcha day" in Nanchang, China. That morning, her orphanage director and another staff member made the 2 1/2 hour trip with her from her orphanage to Nanchang. We had been told that they would arrive at our hotel around 3 p.m., but they were a few minutes early. We had been nervously pacing in our hotel room waiting for the call from our guide to tell us Emily had arrived. When she called and said, "the baby is here," we bolted for the elevator and tried to breathe normally. The elevator arrived at the lobby level and we walked out and saw her for the first time in person. She was wearing a pink shirt/shorts set, had her hair in a tight top ponytail, and she was chasing a green balloon around the lobby. We weren't surprised to see her walking and running. We had seen pictures of that when we received our first update on her after accepting her referral. We weren't surprised by the top ponytail either. She had been sporting that style in every picture we had received. I guess we weren't surprised that she was spunky and loud. That was more difficult to perceive from pictures, but we knew she had an impish grin and that told us something about her personality.
When we first approached Emily, she turned and smiled at us. But, when the woman from her orphanage pointed to me and said "Mama," she yelled "No!" and made a run for the revolving door - an escape route! The orphanage people chased her down and tried to steer us all to a part of the lobby away from the outside doors. Emily just wanted to "go guy-oh" (her county's dialect for "go outside.") The orphanage people walked her outside, picked her up, handed her to me, said a quick "goodbye," and drove away. Then, the screams began... Emily cried and reached for the quickly disappearing car and bucked and sobbed. We took her up to our hotel room and she wanted only to stand at the window and sob out the words "go guy-oh." After about an hour of this, she let me hold her and she fell asleep on my shoulder. Justin put her into her crib and we just watched her for a while. When she woke up, she was still sad, so we decided to take her "go guy-oh." We went down to the area in front of the hotel and watched people and cars. It was then that she first smiled at us.
After that night, she gave us mostly smiles. She started to hold our hands and to ask to be picked up and held. She let us bathe her and brush her hair and rub lotion on her feet and legs. She laughed and giggled and fed us puffs. She began to trust us.
(These next pictures were taken while we were still in China)
It's difficult to believe - in some ways - that six months have already passed since that late June "gotcha day." She has amazed us in every way. We feel so lucky to have been "matched" with her and to have been given the opportunity to love her and to be her family. She is incredibly smart and happy and active and, thanks to the love and care she received at her orphanage, she has none of the typical orphanage delays experienced by most adopted children. She has recently started speaking in two-word sentences. She runs and jumps and climbs. She sings songs (loves "Twinkle Twinkle," "Row, Row, Row" and the "Clean Up" song from school). She knows how to put on and take off her shoes and socks and shirts and pants. She loves to clean with wipes and to push her play grocery cart and doll stroller. She loves her brothers and is feisty enough to stand up for herself. She gives great, squeezy hugs. She is happy at her preschool and her teachers say she is a leader in the classroom. She has grown 2 inches, 1.5 pounds (she was already big and tall), and one shoe size in 6 months and her hair has grown about 4 inches. She has spoiled us by transitioning so easily into our lives/family. She is everything we hoped and prayed for and more.
In recent months, we've celebrated our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family of five. We also had a "baby" dedication for Emily at our church. She didn't totally "get" what all was going on with the dedication or the holidays, but she had a lot of fun!
Post Thanksgiving meal and day of outside fun
(not the greatest picture, but difficult to corral the herd)
Santa brought a kitchen set and Nana made some pretty bead necklaces!
Christmas Eve service at church with brothers and cousins
"Baby" dedication morning at church (there is a reason why they don't typically do these ceremonies with almost two year olds!)
Sweetest girl in the world...
We can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring!!
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