Gotcha Day!!!

Happy Gotcha Day Abraham!!

Our moment finally arrived when Abraham became an official member of the Bennett Clan.  He was all smiles and waiving to us as soon as he saw us coming.  For those who are not from the adoption community, the term "Gotcha Day" is used when you receive your children into your family for the first time.  Each each we celebrate with our children their "Gotcha Day". 

The orphanage staff member asked Abraham if he would like to take any of his clothes with him and he said, “No, I just want my family.”   

He has bonded with Austin already and if Austin isn’t in the room he will begin asking for him.  They are now instant buddies.  It is sweet to watch as Austin helps him with everything.  Talking non-stop, teaching and showing him things.

For Abraham, everything is new.  When we drive, his face is glued to the window taking in everything.  He has only been outside of the orphanage two times in the past five years.  Once was when we took him and the other preschoolers to McDonalds to lunch, which was the first time I met him.  And the second was when he boarded a train to Shanghai to get his open heart surgery.

Last night he slept really well.  We have two connecting rooms so I have Abraham in my room and Austin is in Jim’s room.  We tucked Abraham in last night and we each took turns giving him a hug and telling him we love him.  He just snuggled into the pillow and blankets with a big smile on his face, soaking it all in.  The child has hardly stopped smiling.  This morning when I woke up I looked over at his bed and there he was looking at me watching me sleep.  He said, “Good morning mother.”   I just chucked and said, “Good morning Abraham.”  What a little cutie pie.  Of course, we are going to have to work on my official title as I have never had any of my children call me “mother”. 

Today we went back to the orphanage for the official welcoming ceremony of those children who have been adopted from Zhanjiang.  The Director spoke to the children, welcoming them back to their home city, as well as thanking the families for making the Zhanjiang children a part of their families.  Director Su is a very kind man and he always says such touching words.  It is such an honor to be able to know him personally and to work alongside of him to help the children who remain there.

After the ceremony, each child signed their name in the book which the orphanage keeps for those children who return for a visit.  They also put their hands in ink and stamped their individual pages.  Abraham was the newest adoptee to sign the book, and probably always will be.

 Afterwards we went to the sixth floor to visit the Shining Stars room, ZKO’s newest program which is a preschool program for special needs children.  The children had prepared a special song and dance for the families.  I cannot begin to express how proud I am of those children and the progress they have made.  The Shining Stars program has only been operating for a year now and the kids are making huge strides!  They were once thought to be incapable of learning and now they are truly the shining stars of all the children in the orphanage.

 We then went up to the eighth floor to visit the Open Arms room, which is ZKO’s infant nurture program.  The babies were all busy playing on the floor and with their aunties.  Of course once they saw the foreigners, the flood gates opened for many of them.  We also spent some time over in the nursery holding some of the wee little ones who were trying to get to sleep for their afternoon nap.  I got to see a set of twins who just arrived about a month ago.  They are so tiny—a boy and a girl and boy are they two little sweeties.  I cannot tell you what it does to your heart to hold so many tiny orphan babies.  Row by row, crib by crib, I spent time with each of them holding them and praying over them.  I am so thankful for the provisions that God has given for these little ones.  Just so thankful.

After we were finished in the nursery, the orphanage prepared a lunch for us.  It was vegetables, fried rice and dumplings.  Of course Austin was thrilled and had a plate full of them.   Abraham had a plate full of food as well.  He is eating really well and is enjoying all of the new foods that are being introduced to him. 

One of my concerns with this trip was taking Abraham back to the orphanage to visit.  Obviously we had the translator explain to him we were just visiting.  And since he is use to seeing me come and go, he understood and it ended up being a non-issue.  He grabbed Austin’s hand after they got off the bus and he marched through the orphanage gates as if he owned the entire orphanage.  He was very proud of his new family and he was ready to show us off to all of the children.

After lunch we spend a little bit of time at the local grocery store and then we went to a local grade school to see the classrooms and visit the children.  I was told there are 4,000 students in this elementary and I have to say that I have never seen so many children in one place in my entire life.  The school itself was massive in size, with many floors lined with classrooms.  The classrooms themselves were packed with children, with barely any room to move around in.  

Zhanjiang City is considered a very small city and rarely do they have foreign visitors.  So needless to say, the children thought we were celebrities.  When they were released from their classrooms for their afternoon break they swarmed around us in the courtyard.  There were so many children that we could barely move.  I’ll post a picture of them surrounding Jim, asking for his autograph.  I finally took the boys off to the side and sat and watched.  It was so funny to see them acting as if Jim was a movie star.  The picture speaks a thousand words!!

We finished up the day by splitting off from the group and having an official ZKO dinner with the directors from the orphanage.  It was great food, as always, but as we finished eating I sat there just watching the directors and  everyone sitting around relaxed, chatting and laughing with Ying (one of ZKO’s board members) and myself.  I began thinking about what it was like when ZKO first formed and we would have these official dinners.  It was always so tense and everyone felt uncomfortable with the newness of each other.  But now, it is like we are old friends—actually, we are old friends.   God has blessed ZKO with this incredible working relationship between our organization and the government officials who run the Zhanjiang orphanage.  It is a relationship built on a two-way street of respect for each other and appreciation for our many years of working together.

Tomorrow is a big day for Abraham as we are going to take him, along with some of the older children from the orphanage, to the ocean.  I am so excited to see his face when he sees the ocean for the first time.  I’m also excited to be able to spend some time with the older kids.  I was able to see them for a few minutes today while they were back at the orphanage for lunch break, but tomorrow I will get to sit and talk with them.  It has been bitter sweet watching many of these children grow up over the years.  It seems with every child the gets adopted from this age group, one or two more enter the system to take their place.  Unfortunately, the population numbers for this age group never seem to get any better.

We hope you are enjoying following along on our journey.  Please continue to pray for Abraham.  He seems to be very happy and his oxygen levels have been very good so far.  Sunday will be the big test when he takes his first flight.  It will be a short 50 minute flight and it will give us an opportunity to gauge how his oxygen levels when do when flying.

Blessings!

Jim, Vickie, Austin and Abraham

Enjoy the pictures!!

Abraham's official seal 

Airline Breakfast......anyone's guess???

Airline Breakfast Box (not exactly the words I was looking for)

Best Buddies!!

Director Su playing with Open Arms babies

First picture with dad and mom

Jim signing autographs at local school

2nd Grade classroom

"Cassie" ~ Shining Stars 2012 Student of the Year

Shining Stars Preschool performance

Not sure what it means but certain it is somewhere I don't want to go

Whoops!!