Josie's Here!!!

So today was the big day: we got Josie!

We began the day relatively calmly, without much fanfare. The whole gang met downstairs for breakfast at about 9:00. Once finished, Colleen asked for some time alone (read: without the 2 girls) to gather paperwork, fully unpack and get the girls' clothes organized, and generally "nest" (as she put it). There were only a few hours until we got Josie, and Colleen was in what was the equivalent of labor. To give her some space, Danielle and I took the girls down to the hotel's swimming pool. The pool is huge, and we had the whole thing to ourselves. The girls had a blast, Colleen got to get everything ready, and we all managed to kill a couple of hours actively. This is especially important given how agonizing the wait can be on the day of adoption. We all also managed to get in a little grocery shopping at the local store.

By noon or so, it was time for lunch, which was also uneventful. I will say, though, that the nerves were starting to set in. After lunch, Danielle watched the girls in her room, and even gave them a bath and got them dressed while Colleen and I got ready in the other room. I'll say it again: Danielle has been a life saver! Colleen and I were ready by 2:15, and Danielle had the girls bathed and dressed as well. It was go time. By 2:30 we were in the lobby and ready to go (see pic of whole group). Our fellow travelers, the Russells, were ready to go, too...this would be their first child, and were were very excited for them.

The bus ride to the civil affairs office was exciting, and we were all in good moods (all except Annie, who fell asleep). 15 minutes later, we alighted from the bus and headed into the lobby and rode the elevator up to the third floor. We weren't out of the elevator for more than 1 minute before the ladies from the orphanage showed up with the girls. So there we all were, unexpectedly thrown together in the third floor lobby. We knew Josie immediately from her pictures, and she was just as cute as we thought: a little skinny thing with very short boyish hair and a cute little grin!

We were all a little surprised that the meeting that was supposed to have taken place in the reception room down the hall actually happened a few minutes early. Still, we couldn't pretend like our daughter wasn't there, so we began to slowly approach her with big, gentle smiles on our faces. At first, Josie seemed to like the attention, and the ladies that brought her to the office carefully explained to her that this was to be her new family. Understandably, Josie began to get a little emotional and shook her head as if to say "no". At this point, we all moved out of the elevator lobby and into the reception room. Josie was still a little upset at how things seemed to be turning out, but it occurred to us that an offer of some gummy candies might get her attention...and they did. I offered her a few and at first she refused. To make things funny, I smiled and slowly moved them toward my mouth to see if she'd change her mind. She watched and I could tell that she was beginning to reconsider. I quickly and a little goofily plopped them into my mouth and smiled. This made her smile, and her facial expression was sort of like "you're funny!" I knew we were on the road to some good things here: she was smiling and interacting positively with us. A few more candy offers and giggles later, Josie decided a gummy candy wouldn't be so bad after all and we all started snarfing them down while laughing hysterically. This was so fun!

From this point on, it was all laughs for the rest of the afternoon and evening...literally. We didn't know what to expect, but in our wildest dreams we never expected the whole process to go this smoothly. Colleen had everything in order, and it was nice to see her so gently interact with Josie at first. Colleen knew just what to do, and Josie responded so well to her. After my goofiness with Josie, Colleen gently played with her, using Model Magic, crayons, and other little toys. This was an experienced mommy in action, and it made me happy to watch my wife get to know my new daughter. Where the heck would our family be without Colleen???? One of the most gratifying parts of the whole thing was how well Emma and Annie hit it off with Josie. They broke the ice slowly at the civil affairs office, but on the bus back to the hotel they were having a blast together in the back row of the van (see pic), picking on Daddy and giggling as they all poked the back of my head and tried to hide behind the seats. Back at the hotel, Colleen got everyone settled in her room and the 3 girls broke out the art supplies. It turns out the Josie is every bit the arts and crafts girl that Emma is, and they all had an amazing time drawing together, dancing to "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", and eating Oreos between brown-toothed giggles. I also learned how much Josie likes to be tossed up in the air (see pic).

By 6:00 it was time for dinner and the whole group assembled yet again in the hotel's main restaurant. Josie made it clear to us that she was hungry, and seemed thrilled to be walked into a restaurant with a HUGE buffet. One of the Chinese women who works there helped us by taking Josie by the hand and walking her past each dish and asking her what she wanted. By the time Josie was finished, she had a HUGE plate of food assembled. She seemed especially fond on pea pods, soy, fish sticks, and some other green veggies (bok choy). It was wonderful to see her with all the food she could ever want in front of her, and I was comforted by the thought that she would always have as much food as she could ever want for the rest of her life. Never again would there be economizing or limits...she'd have as much as she wanted whenever she wanted it, which is as it should be. It weas also special to watch Colleen walk Josie up to the ice cream bar, where 7 or 8 flavors awaited her. After looking things over, Josie settled on pistachio, vanilla, and chocolate, and we were happy to give her a scoop of each. Needless to say, the tucked into this and it was obvious to even the meanest intelligence that ice cream was just fine with her. It was cute to watch her get tired as dinner progressed, too.

After dinner, it was upstairs to the rooms where there was a little more play time and then the change into jammies. All three girls were still having a great time together, and it wouldn't be long before they all climbed into the same bed wearing the same jammies (see pic). Already, we looked a lot like a new family.

So now, here I am at my desk while Annie sleeps behind me. Across the hall, Josie is sleeping with Colleen, and Emma is sleeping with Danielle (bless her heart for not minding Emma's invasion of her room...and bless her heart for taking all the still photos today during the adoption!). Tomorrow will be our first day together as a family of 5, and I have every reason to believe that it will be as wonderful as today was.

Today was very special. Earlier in the day, I asked God to bless us with patience, understanding, and compassion as we welcomed a frightened new girl into the family, not knowing how things would go. It turns out the God was far more generous than we could have hoped (as He always is). Instead of needing patience, understanding, and compassion, what we ended up needing was energy, art supplies, and strong mouth muscles for all the laughing and smiles. Josie is an absolute live wire who is going to fit into our family dynamic seamlessly and make our family even better than it was before. There will, of course, be challenges: her hip (her limp is not NEARLY as bad as we thought...she runs and jumps all over the place!), the language barrier, and getting adjusted to a new life in Naples. But, all things considered, these are only challenges, not problems. We'll deal with them together, as a family. For now, though, we have a wonderful little girls who is full of energy and smiles, and who seems to have adapted quickly and beautifully. From the bottom of our hearts, we are very thankful.