We celebrated Lily's Gotcha Day this past weekend. She's been home and part of our family now for 5 years! 5 years seems so short, and other times seems so long. We have a tradition of going out for Chinese food and Dim Sum. This year we discovered our favorite place to go has apparently closed, which we didn't find out until we drove to the restaurant, so then we had to scramble to find a new dim sum place. Thank goodness we could just search from our phones, because by the time we got to the new restaurant we had been in the car for an hour. Best laid plans.
Gotcha Day always reminds me of the weeks before and after Lily came home, and what a roller-coaster it was. The planning and packing before was like the huge climb at the beginning of the ride, you are excited and a little nervous because you really can't see past the top. We were really running on adrenaline getting ready to leave. Making sure I had food for school lunches and snacks, and people lined up to help with the kids so my parents could have some breaks. Making sure my house was halfway cleaned and organized because my mom likes things to be very clean and organized. Making sure we had packed everything including items for our child we had never met.
The Great Wall - near Beijing
We chose to tour Beijing for a couple of days before going to get Lily so we could attempt to acclimate to China. That was like going over the top of the roller-coaster, flying halfway around the world, changing our eating and sleeping habits. My husband is always up to the adventure, me not as much, it takes me a bit longer. We did enjoy Beijing, and then it was off on another plane to southern China to meet Lily.
Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium
Here's where we rode the loops of the roller-coaster: meeting your child for the first time, taking her back to your hotel, holding her while she cries because she is with strangers who can't really speak to her and she is beginning to grieve her loss. Doing it all over again the next day with less crying. I remember Lily waking up and looking at us that second day, you guys again? We quickly discovered the way into Lily's heart was holding hands, food and snacks, and holding little toys. By the third day of having her we got genuine smiles and even little giggles out of her. In our hotel room she would run back and forth between us and play a game where she would tell Justin 'tsai chien' in Mandarin, then 'bye-bye' in English with big smiles.
The rest of our two weeks in China and the flight home (who doesn't enjoy being awake for 30 hours with a three year old who only speaks Chinese when you don't, and she only sleeps 2 hours of the 15+ hour flight home) and even the first year having Lily home was the ups and downs after the loops of the roller-coaster. I might have thought once or twice we weren't going to ever get off the roller-coaster. And then as her first Gotcha Day came around, I realized we had gotten off the ride, almost to my surprise. We truly felt like her parents, and a family, and we where even thriving as a family.
So, we realized how much we enjoyed the adoption roller-coaster, and are standing in line again to get back on the ride. Hopefully our journey in the waiting line won't be too long. We are ready for the adventure to begin!
