GOTCHA DAY

To say we felt the prayers of many today is an understatement. Our day was nothing short of amazing and we know that we were covered in prayer today as we met Max for the first time.

I am not sure where to even start or even if I can put the day into words but here it goes. Eric and I waited in our room for our guide to call that Max had arrived. They were planning on bringing him up to our room. Eric and I decided to meet them right outside the elevator in a sitting area because our room felt like a sauna and we couldn't get it cooled down. A little before 10 the phone rang and our hearts skipped a beat. They were in the lobby with Max and would be coming up. Every time the elevator beeped tears flowed a little harder .... then we got our first glimpse of our little boy.

It all happened so fast and was really a blur. The orphanage teacher handed Max to me and answered a couple questions but in about 5 minutes she was gone and there we stood with our little boy. The emotions were overwhelming as we held our son and looked into his eyes for the first time. As you can see in some of the pictures from the lip stick mark I wasted no time in kissing those sweet cheeks. Max didn't cry at all and went to both Eric and I. The orphanage teacher told our guide he was scared of strangers. When he met our guide in the lobby he cried so she said she was a little worried as they came up the elevator. He did amazing. The little phone with the buttons that made noise was a hit and he was busy taking everything in.

Our guide Lillian is in the picture here translating his schedule the orphanage gave us. She is absolutely wonderful. Her personality is so fun and we feel like we don't have anything to worry about except bonding with Max. We had a little bit of paperwork to do and then headed to our room to get our coats. We had to take about a 5 minute walk to a photo shop to get passport pictures for Max's passport and a family picture for the Civil Affairs appointment later in the afternoon. It was confirmed that Max had never left the orphanage in his 17 months of life except when he was in the hospital for his surgery when he was a couple days old. He had never even been outside. It is just so hard to comprehend. Needless to say he was so fun too watch. He would watch the cars and bikes zoom by. He didn't know weather to look up or down. While we were waiting for the pictures to get processed I got our first giggle out of him. We heard a giggle before a cry ... amazing! After our pictures were finished we headed back to the hotel for some lunch before our afternoon full of paperwork.

We thought he was pretty heavy as we carried him around but under all of his layers was a fairly little boy. These clothes will be going back home with us. They are the only things that he will have from his orphanage besides pictures. The orphanage granted our request and we will be able to go visit it on Wednesday.

We ordered some lunch and let Max play on the floor. He started crawling all over the place in no time. There were a couple things we discovered in a matter of 5 minutes. He is going to be a busy little boy. He was into everything. We had stacking cups for him to play with and Eric was pretty sure he could stack them in the right order quicker than Shane. It was amazing to watch. He loves to drop things behind his head. He loves to make noise so would bang cups together or crash things on the end table to make noise. It was amazing to watch him move around the room and sit back and watch our little boy.

We made him a bottle thinking he probably wouldn't take it. We had found out what formula they used for him at the orphanage so we could buy some today. I had taken some formula from home but we had been warned that the kids don't like the American formula. Chinese formula is sweeter so often people add sugar packs to the bottles (I know that sounds crazy) but you do what you need to get them to eat. Often they won't even take the American formula with sugar so families get the formula they are familiar with. Eric mixed up a bottle and Max got very excited. I was holding him feeding him and he wasn't impressed. He tried to shove the bottle further in his mouth and then kept pulling it out and looking at it and shaking it. Eric came to the rescue and found a scissors and sliced the nipple. They are used to very fast flow bottles in the orphanage so he downed it a a couple minutes. No need for sugar or go out and find his Chinese formula because he ate like a champ. He also ate some bread and rice at lunch time.

So now we are thinking this is too good to be true. He hadn't cried yet and seemed very comfortable with both of us which isn't too typical. A lot of times the child will bond to one parent and want nothing to do with the other at first. So the first two hours went smooth but we would be heading out for the afternoon to do paperwork for 3-4 hours during nap time so were unsure of what the afternoon would bring.

Once we got in the van Max quickly fell asleep on Eric's lap. Let me tell you Eric was one proud daddy. He got the first cuddle time with his boy. It was fun to see as I was the first to cuddle and have our other 3 fall asleep in my arms after they were born. There was our baby sound asleep in his daddy's arms.

We got to the Civil Affairs office and Eric carried Max inside. He stayed sound asleep. We were there for two hours and our little man slept the whole entire time in his daddy's arms. Now as you can see above while he was sleeping his shoe and sock were taken off, his foot got inked, footprints were made, his foot was cleaned and his socks and shoes went back on and he didn't move. Eric is pretty sure my friends are going to shake their heads if I am blessed with another great sleeper. We shall see what the night brings.

We finished our paperwork and left with this document. When we left Civil Affairs Fu Zhi Da became Max Lei Fu and is officially ours.

We next headed to the Visa office to apply for Max's visa. After 30 minutes there we were off to the Notary Office to do another handful of paperwork. I am not even sure what it was for but we just followed the directions that Lillian gave us.

We got back to our hotel 4 hours later. Max didn't complain or cry once the whole afternoon. Eric and I looked at each other and said this is crazy. This is way too good to be true. He is doing amazing. He is making tons of eye contact with both of us and letting us both hold him. He started making tons of noises this afternoon. On one of our updates they said he was quiet. We are pretty sure that is not the case. He definitely has a voice and made some really cute sounds. As we drove he was so fun to watch. He cracks us up with his curiousness and expressions. His head would spin as he watched the cars go by out the window.

When we got back to our hotel Eric gave him a bottle. We have been trying to take turns feeding him and giving him a bottle so he gets used to both of us meeting his needs. He downed his bottle again like a champ. When Eric tried to pull his bottle away he would hold on to Eric's hand so Eric couldn't get the bottle out. When Eric finally got the bottle out of his mouth he let out his first very sad cry that lasted 2 seconds. Eric put him on the floor with his stacking cups and he forgot all about his empty bottle.

We spent a little time letting him crawl around and play before we headed out to dinner. We definitely have a "Curious George" on our hands. He is into absolutely everything. I have a feeling I am going to have my hands full when we get home and Shane is going to have a brother that gets into his stuff. He finds and touches everything. Today he even found a hair on my shirt and pulled it off. He notices the smallest of details.

Tonight was a big night for Max. It was his first dinner out to a restaurant. When he sees you have food for him he opens his mouth and says "ah" and then proceeds to attack your hand with his mouth. It is so cute. He was eating good and was doing great until the little smarty pants figured out he could lift his tray and slam it down and make a very loud noise. I decided to hold him the rest of the meal and he tried to get everything with his little monkey arms. He did grab my coke while I was drinking it and it spilled all over the table. I would say we had a great first evening out with Max even with the spill.

We got back to our hotel and got his pj's on. He went right back to those stacking cups and either stacked them or hit them together to make a really loud sound. He had some fun time with daddy who got a lot of smiles and giggles out of him before bed. I fed him his bedtime bottle and then it was time for bed. We knew this could potentially be a tough time for him but once again he did amazing. He complained a tiny bit when I laid him down but after a couple seconds he was quiet. I went back in to check on him after 5 minutes and he was sucking his little fingers and was fast asleep. I really wanted to take a picture but didn't want to wake him.

As you can see we had and amazing 10 hours with our little boy. It is crazy to think he has just been with us for such a short time. We are in love already and can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. We are heading to bed for the night but I know many of you are reading this as you start your Monday. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we enter a new day tomorrow. Pray that we will have another amazing day with our little boy.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

Psalm 98:4