What a morning!! In Henan province, adoptions take place at the Civil Affairs office in Zhengzhou. There are many adoptive families staying in our hotel and the hotels around us. We met a few families is the lobby waiting for Celine to pick us up. There was a buzz of excitement in the air knowing that we were all less than an hour away from meeting our new children.
The drive to the Civil Affairs office took about 30 minutes. My heart was pounding the whole time. I've read enough blogs and seen enough videos to have put together some expectations about how this would all go down.
It didn't go down that way.
When we arrived there were a few other families that we had seen at the hotel already waiting. No children had been brought in to meet them yet. Our son was standing in the middle of the room, though, which surprised me. The sudden change in my expression probably terrified him. He ran for cover!
His caregiver recognized me and we moved together to a black couch just to the side of the officer's desk and close to a small play area. After we sat down I reached out and picked Wyatt up and he was not happy about that. My "food = happiness" strategy sprung to my mind and I asked the boys to bring out the provisions. It was pretty effective until his caregiver stepped away for a minute.
A fierce storm I've never seen the likes of unleashed within him as she walked away from us. He was so scared and angry and refused to be consoled. We bounced and rocked and tried to feed. We drug out the juice and a few toys. After a bit, his caregiver returned and took him from my arms for a bit. We took off a layer of his clothes because he was sweating profusely. He calmed down, until it was time once again to move into my arms.
He rocked a fit twice as fierce as before as his caregiver walked out the front door. My heart broke. I would've been overcome with emotion and come unglued if I thought I could hold onto him at the same time. Dean was in awe. We've parented a lot of young ones, but never have we seen anything like the grief, anger and anguish our little guy endured during our first hour together.
While I was taken off guard by the strength of our little guy, the grief and anguish was to be expected. Wyatt has been in a small group foster home where he has received very good care since he was 6 months old. He was very attached and it broke his little heart to come to us. From a bonding/attachment perspective, what we are seeing is a good sign and we are immeasurably thankful for the love that he has received during his little life.
While all of this is going on, other families around us were receiving their children. There was a lot of crying. The room was loud and overwhelming. I moved with Wyatt over to the play area and sat down on the floor. NOTE: The play area here is not very clean. Sitting on the floor probably looked irresponsible to some onlookers, but it was the best way I could think of to do some heavy rocking. We've got baby wipes and Germ-ex a plenty. I think we'll be okay.
When the play area rocking didn't work I moved back to the couch and held him Ergo style, placed my chin on his head and started humming in a rhythmic pattern. This worked! He finally quit struggling against me and relaxed. As long as I kept humming with my chin resting on his head, he stayed calm. Because Wyatt has limited hearing (and he couldn't understand my words anyway) I think humming that way was soothing. Within a few minutes he drifted off to sleep.
Next up came documents, signatures and red thumb prints. Wyatt signed with his foot in his sleep. Precious!
Just before the left the Civil Affiars office, we had to have our picture made for our adoption decree. Wyatt had to be awake. I was dreading having to wake him up, but he did just fine. He was in a bit of a stupor, poor little guy.
We hopped in the van, and as he woke up, Wyatt was much more content, especially after Dean whipped out the iPhone. We're so weak. We've been his parents for an hour and we've already pulled out the iPhone. Because of his hearing situation, he presses the phone close to his forehead or the side of his head to feel the vibrations. We drove along listening to Chris Tomlin sing "How Great is our God" world edition and I wept. SO THANKFUL! LOVE!
Before heading back to the hotel, we made a stop at….can you guess? WALMART. The Walmart in Zhengzhou is a pretty neat place. You know the moving sidewalks they have in the airport? Walmart has them, too, except they take you between floors. The sides of the moving walkway were lined with freezer type cases filled with all the stuff you need to make it through a day. You just leisurely move along grabbing things as you pass and put them in your basket. I'm thinking we need these in America. Seriously, my shopping experience would be more pleasant. I also thinking it's entirely fitting that within a few hours of becoming a Robinson, Wyatt is in a Walmart. Hope you like it, little guy! Our Walmart runs are frequent!
After Walmart we returned to the hotel for an afternoon of chilling together as a new family. Wyatt and Riley played (apologies go out to people below us and around us and above us, as well.) The ball we bought at Walmart was a big hit and finally we found a hallway filled with conference rooms to unleash the two in a less peace-disturbing way.
It's nap time now. Our new little prince is tucked into his sweet baby bed, snoozing away. I tried to cuddle up with Wyatt in our bed but mean-ole-Dean wouldn't have anything to do with that. I'm guessing he's not going to be supportive of any more co-sleeping babies, since Riley is 5 and still with us! (Actually, the past two nights Riley has slept in his own bed, Dean!! It's just one little nap).
Thanks for following along, friends - for encouraging us, praying for us and supporting us throughout this mighty work of God in our family and in the life of our new son!
The drive to the Civil Affairs office took about 30 minutes. My heart was pounding the whole time. I've read enough blogs and seen enough videos to have put together some expectations about how this would all go down.
It didn't go down that way.
When we arrived there were a few other families that we had seen at the hotel already waiting. No children had been brought in to meet them yet. Our son was standing in the middle of the room, though, which surprised me. The sudden change in my expression probably terrified him. He ran for cover!
His caregiver recognized me and we moved together to a black couch just to the side of the officer's desk and close to a small play area. After we sat down I reached out and picked Wyatt up and he was not happy about that. My "food = happiness" strategy sprung to my mind and I asked the boys to bring out the provisions. It was pretty effective until his caregiver stepped away for a minute.
A fierce storm I've never seen the likes of unleashed within him as she walked away from us. He was so scared and angry and refused to be consoled. We bounced and rocked and tried to feed. We drug out the juice and a few toys. After a bit, his caregiver returned and took him from my arms for a bit. We took off a layer of his clothes because he was sweating profusely. He calmed down, until it was time once again to move into my arms.
He rocked a fit twice as fierce as before as his caregiver walked out the front door. My heart broke. I would've been overcome with emotion and come unglued if I thought I could hold onto him at the same time. Dean was in awe. We've parented a lot of young ones, but never have we seen anything like the grief, anger and anguish our little guy endured during our first hour together.
While I was taken off guard by the strength of our little guy, the grief and anguish was to be expected. Wyatt has been in a small group foster home where he has received very good care since he was 6 months old. He was very attached and it broke his little heart to come to us. From a bonding/attachment perspective, what we are seeing is a good sign and we are immeasurably thankful for the love that he has received during his little life.
While all of this is going on, other families around us were receiving their children. There was a lot of crying. The room was loud and overwhelming. I moved with Wyatt over to the play area and sat down on the floor. NOTE: The play area here is not very clean. Sitting on the floor probably looked irresponsible to some onlookers, but it was the best way I could think of to do some heavy rocking. We've got baby wipes and Germ-ex a plenty. I think we'll be okay.
When the play area rocking didn't work I moved back to the couch and held him Ergo style, placed my chin on his head and started humming in a rhythmic pattern. This worked! He finally quit struggling against me and relaxed. As long as I kept humming with my chin resting on his head, he stayed calm. Because Wyatt has limited hearing (and he couldn't understand my words anyway) I think humming that way was soothing. Within a few minutes he drifted off to sleep.
Next up came documents, signatures and red thumb prints. Wyatt signed with his foot in his sleep. Precious!
Just before the left the Civil Affiars office, we had to have our picture made for our adoption decree. Wyatt had to be awake. I was dreading having to wake him up, but he did just fine. He was in a bit of a stupor, poor little guy.
We hopped in the van, and as he woke up, Wyatt was much more content, especially after Dean whipped out the iPhone. We're so weak. We've been his parents for an hour and we've already pulled out the iPhone. Because of his hearing situation, he presses the phone close to his forehead or the side of his head to feel the vibrations. We drove along listening to Chris Tomlin sing "How Great is our God" world edition and I wept. SO THANKFUL! LOVE!
Before heading back to the hotel, we made a stop at….can you guess? WALMART. The Walmart in Zhengzhou is a pretty neat place. You know the moving sidewalks they have in the airport? Walmart has them, too, except they take you between floors. The sides of the moving walkway were lined with freezer type cases filled with all the stuff you need to make it through a day. You just leisurely move along grabbing things as you pass and put them in your basket. I'm thinking we need these in America. Seriously, my shopping experience would be more pleasant. I also thinking it's entirely fitting that within a few hours of becoming a Robinson, Wyatt is in a Walmart. Hope you like it, little guy! Our Walmart runs are frequent!
After Walmart we returned to the hotel for an afternoon of chilling together as a new family. Wyatt and Riley played (apologies go out to people below us and around us and above us, as well.) The ball we bought at Walmart was a big hit and finally we found a hallway filled with conference rooms to unleash the two in a less peace-disturbing way.
It's nap time now. Our new little prince is tucked into his sweet baby bed, snoozing away. I tried to cuddle up with Wyatt in our bed but mean-ole-Dean wouldn't have anything to do with that. I'm guessing he's not going to be supportive of any more co-sleeping babies, since Riley is 5 and still with us! (Actually, the past two nights Riley has slept in his own bed, Dean!! It's just one little nap).
Thanks for following along, friends - for encouraging us, praying for us and supporting us throughout this mighty work of God in our family and in the life of our new son!
Oh my. Love reading about gotcha days. So sorry that he is grieving so much. You are so wise in your response and perspective though. Going to pray right nowfor bonding in these first hours together. He is adorable!!!!
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Praising God along with you! He is soooo adorable!
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