Our 1st Anniversary of Gotcha Day

One year ago today, our family of three became a family of four. This is our one-year anniversary of “Gotcha Day”. Because a year’s time can fade one’s memory, I reread my blog entry about Gotcha Day this morning. How blessed we were to have a very happy, relaxing, and fun day. Not all Gotcha Days go so well, as often the child is scared or sad about leaving all that they know.

We got Shaling at the Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou, China (the capital of her province). Normally, the adoptive family arrives first and completes their paperwork and then waits for the child to arrive. However, things went in a bit of a different order for us. Shaling and her friend Natalie (Ma Meixin) arrived at the Civil Affairs office earlier than expected and were actually waiting for us to arrive. We and Natalie’s new family (the Reichenbachs) exited the elevator onto the 8th floor and quickly spotted two giggly little girls with curiously wide eyes excitedly watching as we entered the foyer. They were quickly ushered back into a little play area behind a curtain, but their giggles continued to be audible.

Our guide, Connie, instructed us to sit on some couches, where we filled out the customary paperwork. She then escorted our girls out, one by one. Here is the first picture I ever took of Shaling:


Though we couldn’t understand a word she was saying, Shaling was full of smiles and sweet talk. She was eager to share with us the few belongings she was able to bring with her. One of those items was the photo album we had sent her. In it were several pictures we went to her and a few that she’d added herself (or her foster family added for her). She was especially proud to show us this family picture we had sent to her, in which she took the liberty of adding herself in animé:


We were pleasantly surprised that she had a gift (shorts and a Chinese t-shirt) for Preston. I’m guessing her foster family helped her purchase that.

This is their first hug:


Preston shows her all about a DSi:



Future Illinoisan Shaling Reynolds & Future Floridian Natalie Reichenbach:


We had our first taste of how much Shaling loves to take pictures, as she grabbed my camera and took numerous pictures. She had obviously been taught the English phrase, “thank you”, as she said it over and over and over – when we handed her items, as she opened gifts, etc. She was immediately clingy and affectionate…holding our hands and hugging all of us.

As we rode in the van back to our hotel, she was as mesmerized watching the landscape and sights as we were. She pointed at me and said “Mother” and pointed at Brock and said “Father”. I pointed at Preston and said “Brother”. She immediately went on a mission and began digging through her backpack. She eventually found a Berenstein Bears book written in both English and Chinese. She quickly flipped through the pages until she found one with English paragraphs. She pointed at the words “Brother Bear”, wanting to prove to us that she recognized and knew the word “brother”. She also used one of her new colored scented pens to copy some English words from a package. She wanted us to see how hard she was working to learn her new language.

That evening we ate at a restaurant popular with adopting families, Lucy’s. It has a very extensive menu with a variety of cuisines. Because our guide, Connie, had strongly advised us to give Shaling lots of rice, we planned to order her a Chinese dish. However, after browsing through the menu, Shaling enthusiastically pointed at a picture and said, “pizza”. We were both surprised and confused. We asked the waitress to please explain to her that she could have whatever she wanted, but she still insisted on pizza. It was her first meal with us, so we weren’t going to argue. She was super slow eating the pizza, but she ate every bit of it. We would soon discover that she ordered the pizza simply to impress us, because it took months back in the United States before she would eat it again (and it’s still not something she particularly likes).

After letting the kids run off some energy at a nearby playground, we walked back to our hotel. As we walked, Shaling grabbed for our hands a lot. Despite the enormous language barrier, we immediately loved our little girl. We were so overwhelmed by her desire to impress us, her constant smiles, and her happy-go-lucky attitude. In retrospect, I am still amazed at (and proud of) her courage to simply walk out the door with people that she had never met and with whom she could not speak, knowing it was forever. Not only did she do so, but she seemed to fully embrace it. Gotcha Day was the first day of a “honeymoon phase” that did eventually end, but not until we had been home for a period of time. Gotcha Day provided us with a full range of emotional memories we’ll always treasure.