More than we ever imagined

How can someone express with words the experience of meeting your child for the first time?  Words fail me.  Today was a day that will forever be in my memory.

Wes, Priya, and I all had different emotions this morning.  Priya said her palms were sweaty!  She was so excited about meeting Hope.  Wes and I were pretty calm (until arriving at the orphanage...but more on that later).  We had a nice family breakfast at the hotel, and our friend Josh was able to snap a family picture before heading out the door.  The bunny in Priya's hand was her gift to Hope, made with love at good ol' Build-A-Bear-and-Take-All-My-Money workshop.  My favorite part of this little stuffed animal is that Priya recorded her own voice saying "I love you, Hope" for the bunny.  Although I am still bitter about the price of this thing, I must say that Hope LOVED her gift.  But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

Driving to the orphanage, I started to get really emotional.  It's like 3 years of waiting, praying, filling out paperwork, waiting some more, praying, doing more papers, praying, filling out more papers, praying some more...it was all about to come to an end.  Or better said, a beginning.  When we pulled up to the orphanage, I was completely overcome.  Outside the gates, there was a cradle drop box where anyone could leave their child, knowing he would be taken into the orphanage and given a chance at a better life.  It was more than I could bear.  The thought of any baby or child being left in that box was just too much for me.  What a broken world we live in.

Once we pulled up to the front, Sister Smitha, the nun who is Hope's primary caretaker, was waiting to greet us.  Despite some frustrating road bumps throughout the adoption, I felt God overwhelm me with great love for this lady.  Here's a person who has given her LIFE to help children.  And she's been taking care of MY child.  I completely lost it when I saw her.  I think we hugged for a solid 5 minutes.  I hope she genuinely felt how much I appreciate her.  I will forever be grateful to this sweet gift from God.

Now I need to stop and point out that Sister Smitha had told us that no one could enter the orphanage except immediate family members.  We were bummed about this because Sherry, my sweet sister-in-law, came along with us along with Josh, a friend and video guy from our church.  We planned to have Sherry and Josh wait in the van while we went inside.  But before we left the hotel this morning, we prayed and asked God for His favor.  We prayed that Sister Smitha would see our love and somehow be compelled to allow Sherry and Josh inside, too.  When she saw them, she told them they could come inside and sit to wait!  Praise God.  I felt the Lord so intimately answering our prayers.  

We went to a room to talk for a few minutes alone with Sister Smitha.  Josh and Sherry waited in a room next to ours.  Without us even asking, she said that after our initial meeting with Hope, she would allow Sherry and Josh to come in and also meet her!  Hallelujah!  What a gift.  We are so thankful.

And then, in a heartbeat, our sweet Hope entered the room.  I cannot even describe what I felt in that moment.  I can't understand how I can love a child so much that I've never met before!  Is it possible that God has given us the 2 MOST BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS in the world?  It is unreal.  She has the sweetest, shy little smile.  It will melt your heart.  She said, "hello Mommy, Papa, and Priya dedi."  I was dying.  I melt for little kids with Indian accents.  (not for adult ones, just to be clear.)  Here are some of our first moments with Hope!

It's totally crazy, but HOPE LOOKS JUST LIKE WES!  Their faces look identical to me!  They even have the same haircut! HA HA HA

After a few minutes, Sister Smitha let Sherry and Josh into the room.  It was interesting because Hope recognized Sherry from the family photo album we sent!

We colored and talked for a couple of minutes.  I was surprised at how much English Hope could understand!  She only answered with a word or two, but she did answer everything I asked her!  She said her favorite color is pink.  And then she added yellow.  How amazing that her room at our house is pink!  She also said she loves dance.  She looked at me once and called me Kasey Lorene! It was so cute!  The nun said she had memorized our names.  I was a little taken back by that!  She smiles a lot.  She never shows her teeth, but she has the cutest smile.  Adorable dimples.  And she's SO sweet.  She and Priya hit it off right away!  Priya was talking to her like they've been friends for all 6 years of their lives.  I love when Hope says "Priya Dedi." (a term of respect for an older sister).  I kinda hope she never loses her accent, either.  It really is the sweetest thing.  I think she pushed the sound button on her new bunny about 20 times in those first 5 minutes.  Then she'd repeat, "I love you, Hope."  I'm in love. 

After a few minutes getting acquainted, Sister Smitha invited us into the dining area to celebrate.  They had an awesome cake to celebrate the occasion!

They lit two candles, one for Hope and one for Priya, and the girls cut it together.  We all sat down (including Sherry and Josh) and celebrated together with India tea.  Let me tell you, there wasn't an ounce of chocolate left on Priya or Hope's plates.  These girls love chocolate.  Me, too!  That's why I married Wes.  Wait, what?  That's inappropriate.

After our celebration, we took a tour around the orphanage.  Unfortunately, Sister asked us not to take any pictures of the kids.  She is very protective of the kids and doesn't want them to be exploited.  While I would never do that, I DO wish you could see their faces.  These children are amazing.  Every one of them.  I wanted to die as we walked through.  They were all congratulating Hope and asking her questions about the new family!  It was sweet to see Hope happily introduce us to all the kids.  We got to meet her best friend, a sweet little boy.  I am really hoping we can get a picture of him tomorrow.  That boy's face lit up when we walked into the room.  Hope pointed at him and said, "my friend."  He knew exactly who we were.  These kids really are so precious!  I pray every one of them gets a family.  They were all eager to show us their schoolwork, their clothes, or anything that would make us pay attention to them.  I want to bring all of them home.  Not even kidding.  

Hope was proud to show us the room where she sleeps and her bed.  I have a feeling someone's going to be sleeping in bed with Priya.  She's probably not going to like sleeping alone!

We were able to get one shot of some of the girls in Hope's class.  Sister said she wanted Hope to be able to remember their faces.  These girls were SOOOO sweet.  They all need a family, too.  Any takers?  They're all over age 5 so even non-indians can adopt them!!

Well, now for the bad news.  We couldn't take Hope home with us today.  The passport office does need a police verification before Hope can be released.  This basically means an officer has to physically visit the orphanage and have the caretakers sign off on Hope's paperwork.  This apparently has been the delay. Sister Smitha said she asked the police to come tomorrow, at which point we can take Hope with us.  PLEASE PRAY the police show up.  We cannot proceed to get her passport without this step!  Hope was a little sad when she found out she couldn't leave with us.  Then, Sister Smitha told her to leave her bunny with us, too, so that the other kids wouldn't be sad about not having their own!  Hope was holding onto that bunny for dear life!  So Sister Smitha compromised  (Mary Klein, you'd be very proud) and told her she could keep the bunny in the office.  Hope seemed ok with that.

As we were leaving, Hope said something in Hindi to Sister Smitha.  Sister Smitha, choked up, told us that Hope said, "Thank you for finding me a very nice mommy and papa."  Commence tears.