Gotcha Day COMPLETE!

Today was an incredible gift! Things went so smoothly and Matthew has been easing in to this transition without any major problems. He is currently passed out on our bed for the night and even though I can see him with my own eyes, I cannot believe he is finally here! 

This morning we were all up way earlier than even our typical 6am wake up here. We were all just very anxious to get on with the day. It seemed to take forever for 930am to get here but when it finally did we were more than ready. Here we are on our way to the lobby to meet the group and get on the bus! 

This is the building where we met Matthew.

When we pulled up to our entrance there were already 3 children waiting to meet their forever families. Everyone rushed off the bus and started snapping pictures for those families! 

When we got inside Joseph made himself comfortable in the play area. 

Eventually he bored of that and ended up playing spin the chair until he was too dizzy to walk. Meanwhile lots of other children arrived. 

There came a point when there were just 3 of us families left waiting. We spent so much time staring out that doorway for our kids.

Joseph was so sweet. He kept asking when his "little brudder" was gonna get there. He kept watch when the rest of us parents gave up our doorway snooping. 

He looked so sad sitting out there. He wanted Matthew to show up so bad. 

I eventually joined him on the step and took more pictures to pass the time. 

We took one last picture of just the 3 of us on this trip. 

Even though Joseph was keeping a great watch on the front doors, I was inside and recognized Matthew the second he came in in his "Mama's" arms through the side entrance!! I quick ran outside to get Ronnie and Joseph. I could barely speak, trying to explain they had snuck in the other way and that they had to come inside now. This picture shows a bit of the chaos of what is going on in this room at the time you meet your kids. There are all sorts of kids and parents and siblings, all at different parts of the gotcha day process. It is easy to miss someone sneaking in a side entrance!  

Here are some of the first moments meeting him. 

The orphanage director and his wife (Matthew's foster parents) gave us a photo book of Matthew and had developed the pictures from the cameras we had sent in his care packages. His foster mother gave me a beautiful necklace too. I wish there wasn't a language barrier because I would have loved to get to meet them more. They obviously love Matthew very much. 

So they were not kidding when they said Matthew was active! He does not like being held for very long and is a fast mover when set free ;) 

He also came to us in split pants with no diaper. I just love those little tushy butts peaking through! 

Here is Matthew with his "Mama & Baba". As we waited to sign the paperwork our guides explained it would be a while longer. They said Matthew's orphanage hasn't placed a child for adoption in 2-3 years so they didn't know what paperwork was required and were filling out the missing parts now! It really didn't take much longer and having that little bit of extra time with his foster mom was great. She got Matthew to dance and spin and giggle. He is such a happy kid!!

On our way back to the hotel Matthew wasn't showing preference one way or the other to me or Ronnie. He remained happy and even gave us a giggle! When we got back to the hotel room we just let him explore. 

Joseph was having so much fun with him, throwing a football to him and reading him books. 

One thing Matthew couldn't get enough of was the toilet! So we ended up just shutting the door to the bathroom. See here how daddy ruined all the fun ;) 

Unfortunately, because of our flight delay yesterday one parent had to spend most of the day today after getting back with our children running errands to the bank and filling out paperwork. Ronnie chose to go and almost 3 hours later he came back to the room :( The boys and I had fun though. 

Brother bonding time went well.

Some things worth noting on this kid. He is probably just as heavy as they told me, which is only maybe 1-2 pounds different from Lucy! He came with 3 layers of tops and a bib, 2 layers of pants, his socks and his shoes on. He likes to eat. He has the tiniest little hands and the biggest brown eyes!!! 

This was the first time I saw Matthew go up to Joseph and try to get him to play! 

After his first bath with us tonight!

He also needs to be rocked and fed to sleep! 

And this kid needs to stop selling himself out when he sneaks off with my camera...

Ok, it's off to dreamland for me. Everyone else here is already asleep. Praying we all sleep through the night tonight. Going to bed was the most difficult time for Matthew in his transition. He resisted for a long, long time before finally passing out. He refused to nap today too. I'm guessing wake up tomorrow will be rough and tomorrow in general will be harder for him. But he is AMAZING and truly a gift from God!! We are so blessed to be his parents!