Gotcha Day!

We have been without internet access for the last two days, so I apologize for the lack of news coming from us.  It has been a very full few days since meeting Shelby.  Honestly, Scott and I were a little overwhelmed, especially Monday, by a number of things - the main three being lack of sleep, heat (oh SO hot), and Shelby herself.  Tuesday went much better, and we moved back to our apartment that evening.  We got our first full nights sleep since being here.  Shelby continued to stay at the home that day, but we took her for outings, fed her, bathed her, and played with her.  The missionaries took us to see the area where Shelby was from.  We drove up and down "her" streets and even explored a market in her town.  It was a very cultural experience that we will share more about when we get home.

Wednesday was the BIG day for us.  We took Shelby in to her doctor's appointment.  This is the doctor that is in charge of all her physical and occupational therapy.  The therapists and doctor here have seen Shelby every week over the past year.  It was good to hear of her progress and the hope the doctor has for her.  Then we took her out to McDonalds for the first time.  She really liked the french fries!  After that it was on to ICAB (adoption board) for the official entrusting of her to us.  We were given her visa, passport, and other official papers as well as some gifts for her.  After some pictures we brought her home with us, and all conked out for a nap.  Now it is 7:00am Thursday morning, and she is still asleep which totally surprises us because she has been getting up between 4:30 and 5am at the home. 

She has totally taken to Scott.  She literally follows him from room to room and constantly wants to be held by him.  He thinks it very humorous that one of my big prayers and worries was that she might be afraid of him for awhile.  Even when she stirred during the night, she would settle pretty quickly when she reached out and felt his face close by.  We are thrilled with how she is starting to respond and interact with us, and realizing that some of the behaviors and mannerisms that really startled us at first are more "institutional" behaviors, we think.  In other words they are ways and habits that she has developed to soothe herself since there is often not enough loving grown up hands to do that for every child.  It's a wonderful children's home, please don't misunderstand.  The staff is wonderfully committed and loving.  However even they will tell you that each and everyone of those children needs his/her own loving family. 

I'm going to post this quickly and hope that we will have some internet access tonight or tomorrow to post some more.  If not, we love you all and will see many of you Saturday.  I will try to respond to emails as I can, but this was the fastest way to reassure everyone that your prayers are working. 

We made it.

Well, we made it.  Let me tell you, that is one lllllooooonnnnggggg trip!  We had to really move to make our connection in Detroit.  They were doing their final boarding call as we huffed up to the gate, but we made it.  That flight was almost 13 hours long, and it was light the whole way.  Eventually, the flight attendants ask everyone to shut the windows shades and turn down the lights, so people can rest.  Ha,ha, that was not happening very well for me.  I only slept from about 12:30 until 2:30 when they woke everyone up to serve us breakfast.  Then we get off the plane an hour later, and it's 4:30 in the afternoon in Tokyo.  We got on our flight to Manila an hour later, and they immediately serve us supper.  It was wierd!!!  The flight to Manila was better because I managed another hour and a half of sleep.

We met Darren, the missionary from the home, with no problem.  Traffic was really crazy for midnight, but he got us to our accomodations safely.  By the time we got to sleep it was about 2:00am, and the neighborhood rooster woke us up about 6:30. 

This morning was a rough start with no phone, no internet, not tv.  Oh, how spoiled we have become!!!!  At least we had a hot shower.  Our manager has helped us with the internet, but it still seems a little sketchy to me.  At least I can post and contact our driver who is supposed to pick us up in the morning.

At lunch time we took a taxi to the closest mall, Santa Lucia.  It's a VERY westernized mall, not really where we wanted to shop. However we were able to pick up a few things.  It was packed, and let me tell you, we stuck out like crazy!  At least we could have some McDonalds.  I've never thought of McDonalds as comfort food, but oh how good that tasted.  We spent most of the afternoon there and took another taxi back. 

Now we are crashing again.  We have to be up early in the morning, so we are planning to hit the sack soon.  As a matter of fact, it's not quite 6pm, and Scott is snoozing on the couch while I type.  Tomorrow is the big day.  We get to meet our daughter.  Darren has already warned us to not have high expectations for a couple of reasons.  First, he said she is really shy, around everyone but especially around strangers and men.  He said she doesn't even warm up to him very quickly, and he is there all the time.  Second, the social worker is insisting on bringing us out right before morning nap time.  Meaning, she has been up and busy already for 3 hours or so and will really be starting to wear down, needing her nap.  Not the most opportune time to have new people thrown at her. 

So keep praying for us.  Tomorrow will really be our introduction day only.  Hopefully as the day goes on, we can get her to warm up to us a little. Then Tuesday we will again spend a day with her.  Will that be our "gotcha day" when we get to take her.  We will just have to wait and see because, starting tomorrow, our world will once again be ruled by an almost 2 year old. ;)