Okay, so I am so slowly unfolding this... sorry! It is finally time to share GOTCHA DAY! Ms. Roy told us to call her at 10:00 am (yes, this makes the third time we have called her- per her requests) to figure out a time when she would bring him to the hotel. I was still praying that she would change her mind and let us come to the orphanage. She did not and said that she was going to bring him to our hotel "around" 12:30 or 1:00. You have to understand India to know that made me nervous. Time seems to be worn loosely there... it is really more of a time vortex, but I was hoping for promptness. That already felt like too long to wait to me:)
When we came back from breakfast, the housekeeper had set up the room SOO sweetly. She folded Joseph's little blanket, decorated with toys, and put some music on! I couldn't believe that he was on his way FINALLY!!
Here we are on GOTCHA DAY.. milling around after breakfast.
We thought we would go ahead and try to get massages while we waited, so we went to the spa. Well, they didn't have any openings that morning, but we got to meet the gal in the spa (Ms. Roy-- isn't that funny?) She immediately asked us if we were Christians and then told us her story... very cool. She had an extra area in her home where she would house volunteers from Mother Theresa's Home for the Destitute and Dying. One day, she even had Mother Theresa stay with her. She wanted to make her a special meal so she asked Mother T. what she liked best. Mother T. responded that she loved "mutton", but would not allow her to make it for her unless she could make it for everyone volunteering that day. This woman proceeded to buy and make mutton for LOTs of people because she so wanted to prepare a meal for Mother Theresa. She said she had to hire a caterer and it was quite expensive, but was such a blessing to her. She wanted to meet Joseph when he arrived and hugged us and prayed a blessing on us. It was precious... no massage, but that was why we went there, I think!!
Needless to say, we went downstairs at 12:15 and fixed our eyes on the door.
Here is a picture of the lobby of the hotel.
At 12:45, here was the sight!!! (sorry it is sideways... does anyone know how to rotate this?)
We were completely thrilled to see our angel for the first time. We also have some great video of me crying like a baby, but I don't know how to get it from camera to blog! Sorry!
Ms. Roy wanted to go straight up to our room, so we went up to our room with ME HOLDING JOSEPH, of course. Here is the blessing in having to meet at the hotel... we had uninterrupted time with Ms. Roy and one-on-one time with our oh-so-shy little guy. It was calm, controlled, quiet, and ALL ABOUT Joseph. I didn't have any other responsibilities or emotions to process. It was PURE DELIGHT meeting our son. Now that I know more of his personality, it was exactly what he needed as well. We met him and snuggled him a few minutes when he began to fuss. Ms. Roy took him and put him down for a nap. I will post the video of that in the next few days, I hope. She patted him and sang a lullaby to him (I guess) in Bengali. The little traumatized angel went right to sleep!
Then, we sat down with Ms. Roy and took care of all of the paperwork. We were able to calmly and quietly ask all of our questions. We were also able to give her the generous donations from our church of diapers, nipples, and over $300 for milk money. We think we heard a sigh of relief when she saw all of the donations! It was truly a blessing to have that time with this remarkable, sweet-spirited woman. She is so gentle and kind.
It was hard to see her go, but she was the conduit to bring us the most amazing gift...our son.
He slept for what felt like an eternity! Bill and I would just stare at him, then look at each other and laugh out loud. It was like, "can you believe what just happened and that he is right here?" The whole thing was this gentle, loving transaction. She stepped out of his life representing the care he received at the orphanage and then we were there when he woke up. He did wake up and was SO SAD. He had no idea what had happened and there was nothing familiar. I felt sorry for him and wanted to tell him it would be okay, but he had to have time to feel it. After a few hours of sadness.. not crying constantly, but off and on tears, he was smiling and laughing. I guess he figured we weren't so bad after all. By evening, we were seeing lots of this...
So-- that was our Gotcha Day in a nutshell. Was it anything like I imagined it would be? NO! Was it orchestrated by Joseph's Creator to be exactly what he needed? Absolutely! I will always regret that I never got to see his "first home". I wanted to see, smell, touch, feel what it was like. BUT- this is his story, not mine and this is how God ordained it to be.
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Not what you expected, but so amazing. What a cool gotcha day!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful day! Joesph is so sweet and I love that big smile. We also met the lady in the spa, but were too sick to take Alesha down and show her to her. She showed me a photo of you and Joseph and we made the connection that I knew who you were. It was really fun. She is such a sweet lady!
ReplyDeleteApril :-)
It is kind of fun to hear about a different kind of experience -- did Ms. Roy ever say why she felt it was best to bring Joseph to you? I was wondering if they've had a lot of traffic through ISRC recently or something . . . sometimes lots of families come through close together, and it becomes time-consuming for the staff (and probably disruptive for all the babies' schedules!). It's neat that you have a unique story that fit his personality so well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time out of your busy days to share with us all!
Nancy
Love the way you handle all of the bumps with grace and see God's hand in it. I pray I will have this attitude on our trip as well!! What a beautiful story of your special day!
ReplyDeleteJenny
Thank you for recounting this amazing day so poetically. I can't wait to hear more!! Emily :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I am crying! I can't wait to see him too!
ReplyDeleteHow sweet that you had that one on one time with Ms. Roy. It sounds like the day was just perfect. And in the end, you had your sweet boy to snuggle and cuddle. Even more perfect.
ReplyDeleteJulie R
What a wonderful outlook. I wish I had dealt with our turbulence as well as you did! He looks so sweet and amazing!
ReplyDeleteKristy
He is so beautiful...and what a wonderful account of your experience. :)
ReplyDelete