"gotcha day", April Ninth...

As we have some time now, I thought I'd post some information about 'Gotcha' day......as previously stated, we left Bejing early on Monday, April ninth and flew to Nanning City. There, we were met at the airport by our travel guide, Glen (about 27 years old; incredibly nice guy; great great sense of humor; lots of fun; speaks English well).....Anyway, we load up on a small van to take us to the Majestic hotel in dowtown Nanning....We check in, relax as best we can, knowing that we were getting our babies that day......we try and eat in the hotel restaurant, but no one is really that hungry......At 2:30, we meet in the lobby to head 15 minutes to another hotel....At that hotel, there is a reception area, where the orphanges will bring our babies....As stated, there are 4 families with us: myself and Tina (getting Bella, 11 months); Jackie and John from NH (getting Roma, who turned one on 4/10); Jimmy and Nancy (Vineyard; getting Laina who is 8 months), and Carmen from Long Island, travelling by herself, who is getting Jianna (who is 21 months)....We all go into this room....kids toys, etc...and wait........we are told that 2 of the 4 babies are there, and waiting for the other 2 (come to find out, it is Bella and Laina).....shortly after 3, we are told that all of the babies are there.....they bring in the babies, one by one.....Roma was first...She was in Foster Care, and the Foster mom was there, sobbing...very very close to Roma...Roma was very cute......next baby is Jianna, who did cry at first, but was okay with Carmen...She is the oldest....21 months........next was Laina, the youngest and a cutie....!.....last, but certainly not least, was Bella......Our hearts melted as soon as we saw her...she was handed to Tina; no tears.......just a smile..(only tears were from yours truly)...then to me....again, no tears...little hugs....little hugs for Zach....did not cry ONCE that first day....incredibly emotional day.......we stayed there for about an hour, as the foster care and care givers stayed with us......then, we all went back to our hotel on the van....by then all the kids had quieted down.......we relaxed in our rooms, and eventually met up for dinner....all of us excited, and emotionally drained......On 4/10, we had to go to 2 offices to get paperwork notarized, signed off on, and had interview with the orphange directors.....had to answer personal questions about education; promising never to abandon or abuse our children, etc. We were also able to ask questions about our babies directly to the caregivers......We found out that bella went to everyone, except the director....was very happy baby in the orphange.....Always sucked her thumb (we wanted to make sure it was nt a nervous habit cuz she was with us; when you meet her, u will see that there is either food or thumb in mouth), we found out about eating and sleeping habits.....if there were anything she liked or disliked....that her and Laina were in same orphange at same time.....that she loved playing with other kids...........after all was said and done, 4/10 became the day we officially became Bella's parents.......So, 4/9 is gotcha day; 4/10 is the day we became parents........Best thing is we stayed in Nanning from 4/9 until the following Monday, 4/16....Most families go to Guangzho earlier, but due to trade show, we couldnt....In all honesty, we preferred it this way.....Nanning was extremely relaxing....gorgeous parks, and we only had 4 families/4 kids with us....many groups had 12 to 15 families/kids with them, which makes it difficult to do tours, go out to dinner, etc....We became close with this group, and glad that all worked out......as beautiful as Guangzho is and the 'island', it is also more pricey here, as it caters to a lot of businessmen.......okay, off to spend some money.....post more later