Longest. Day. Ever.

So today Big Brother woke up sick.  Vomiting.  Diarrhea.  

Big problem.

We HAD to take a 4 hour (ONE WAY) van ride to Nanyang to apply for Eli's passport.  

Both parents HAD to be there.  

Period. 

Big Brother could not leave the hotel room.  

He was THAT sick.

So our guide came and stayed with Big Brother and Big Sister while another guide took us to Nanyang.  

Several other families in surrounding hotel rooms checked in every hour and brought them food.

I was a nervous wreck all day.

All day.

 So the rest of the family got up and dressed and ready to go:

4 hour van ride there was uneventful with sleeping children.  Until we got to Nanyang and the driver decided to play chicken with the 18 wheelers coming towards us.  Notice Josh ignoring the driver and looking out of the side window.  

Notice Denise (another adoptive mom) behind Josh, fearing for her life.  

Eli holding mama's hand in the passport office.

Two cool dudes riding back to the hotel.

One conked-out, miserable, sick baby.

Big Brother felt a million times better when we returned, 9 hours later.  The only thing they suffered from was a little Cabin Fever from having been in the hotel room all day.  

Mama was SO glad this day was over...

Officially Official!

The next morning the boys woke up slowly.  Big Brother played games while Eli watched.  Ian took longer to wake up, obviously not a morning person.  However, we noticed that he was running a fever when we got him dressed, and he was pulling / tugging / scratching at his ears.  Thank Heavens I had brought some antibiotic ear drops.  Used those and gave him oral antibiotics that the guide gave me from a local pediatrician.

After breakfast, we went back to the place we had gotten the boys the day before.  There we were greeted by government officials who congratulated us and handed out the official documents stating that we were the official parents of these children.

 Announcement:  "You are now the official parents of these children!"

Official family photo.  Notice sick Ian is totally asleep.  Poor guy.

After that we went back to the hotel room to just chill / play / bond.  We started to see a little glimpse of a smile from Eli every once in a while.  He ran into the bathroom and grabbed Josh and laughed and laughed.  Very random and abrupt for him, and I'm so glad I caught this on film.  

Especially considering the sad face the night before.

Ian woke up and, even though feeling awful, always had a smile on his face.  He and Big Brother played while he continually removed his shoes.  (he still does that - can't keep shoes on the kid!)

We are hungry for lunch and decide to go to McDonalds.  Ian in the stroller, Eli pushing him and Big Brother playing peek-a-boo.

First french fry.  "Do I put this in my hair or my mouth?"

Eli's first McDonalds experience.

Walking back from McDonalds.  Big Sister is holding a sleeping Eli.

That evening after baths, I looked up and saw this:

Be still my heart.

Gotcha Night

***To start at the beginning, please scroll down and see the previous post before this!  Thanks!***

Remember I said the boys were dirty?  

After we got back to the hotel room and the boys looked at us for a little while they started to decide that we were ok people.  

We carefully removed their clothing (and saved the outfits they were given to us in) and took baths.

Ian absolutely loved his bath: 

You couldn't wipe the smile off of that face!   

He splashed so much there was more water on me and the walls than in the tub!

 Eli was very curious as to what we were doing to Ian.  

... and he looked as though he was a little nervous about the whole "bath" idea.

And he was.  He never cried, just looked totally miserable and sad the whole time.  He didn't want to sit in the water.  He wanted to stand and let me splash his knees.  You could tell he had never had this type of bath before.

Look at this broken heart after his bath!  Made my heart break for him.  He had yet to cry over all of the changes that had gone on with him that day.  Shocked would be an understatement.

They slept that night silently... although I'm sure not very soundly.  

Don't worry sweet babies, you've found your forever family.

Gotcha Day!

 Gotcha day was like a dream come true... literally.

I have dreamed of this day for many years.

I have specifically dreamed of these sweet boys for 10 months.

Crying and praying over their picture every night...

Wondering if they are being taken care of like they should be.

Big Brother and Big Sister were excited.  I felt like it was too good to be true.

And it was.

First to come in was Ian.  He cried his little heart out when the strange blonde headed lady with a big nose and an even bigger smile held him.

I had him in my arms.

I.  Had.  Him.  In.  My.  Arms.

!!!

The room was crowded, hot, bustling with people.  Excited ones, nervous ones, scared ones.  Crying babies everywhere.

But I had him in my arms and didn't notice anything else.

Ian's orphanage made him a photo album:

Then came Elijah.

I heard someone shout "The bus from Nanyang is here!"

I grabbed the video camera and ran to the door.

My heart was racing 90 miles per hour and tears and snot were flowing.

I saw him instantly and my heart melted a second time.

He did not cry.  He stared.

Terrified, but unable to cry.

He felt like he had always been in my arms.  Just natural.

He had a package of cookies in his hands.

And his foster mother sent him with a toy gift.

He.  Was.  Loved.  Thank you, God.

Both boys were dirty, and eaten up with bug bites.

We whipped out the sippy cups and snacks.

 When we got back to the hotel room we took their shoes off.

Look at the poor shocked faces:

 They went through a lot that day.

Everything they knew had been taken away from them.

Strange people with big noses and pale skin kept smiling and talking to them in a strange language.

They will warm up to us.

Thank you, God for your two precious additional blessings to our family.