(One year ago this month, Pa and I made the trek to China to adopt our sweet Sister Susie. I am going to take the first seventeen days of February 2008 to revisit that trip. Hop in for the ride!)
Let's set the scene. Government building. Cold room. Small room. 25ish people. No babies. Yet.
On this whole China trip, each family was given a number. Made for better organization, and as our Chinese guide said--it was much easier for her to say "Fam-uh-lee Thir-tee" than "Hossenfeffer."
So we were told that the babies would be given to us in the order of our family numbers. We knew our place in line, which gave us just enough time to panic over "The camera! Is the camera on? Are you ready? Are you filming this?"
This "us" I'm speaking of might be, and I'm just saying "might be" me.
(And by some magic, Pa was able to manage BOTH the still camera AND the video camera, without my assistance. Hmph! The thought!)
So here's the lineup, and our first glimpse at our girl:
When our number and her Chinese name were called, I went forward and was handed my daughter:
Let's set the scene. Government building. Cold room. Small room. 25ish people. No babies. Yet.
On this whole China trip, each family was given a number. Made for better organization, and as our Chinese guide said--it was much easier for her to say "Fam-uh-lee Thir-tee" than "Hossenfeffer."
So we were told that the babies would be given to us in the order of our family numbers. We knew our place in line, which gave us just enough time to panic over "The camera! Is the camera on? Are you ready? Are you filming this?"
This "us" I'm speaking of might be, and I'm just saying "might be" me.
(And by some magic, Pa was able to manage BOTH the still camera AND the video camera, without my assistance. Hmph! The thought!)
So here's the lineup, and our first glimpse at our girl:
When our number and her Chinese name were called, I went forward and was handed my daughter:
She was so small, so baby like. And as I looked over at my chicken-scratchings on paper, I couldn't make sense of how "pile of paperwork" related to "she is mine."
It's a wild ride, this thing called "adoption." And out of aaaaaalll the parents that could have been chosen to raise this girl, we were matched up as The Ones.
And at that moment, I knew. I knew that we did not deserve to be her parents. That there was nothing special about us. That we had made mistakes. That we would continue to make mistakes.
And yet there she was--this little person, this life. Utterly dependent on us.
It was a happy day for us. I didn't shed a tear on that day--but I do now. She's a beautiful girl, and a blessing to us all.
*We* are the ones who are lucky.
