"Gotcha" Again ...

"Gotcha" didn't I! No, we're not on that path again ... at least not now. But today is the three year anniversary of our first date with our sweet baby girl Lily Grace. So each year, we try to remember that day and record for her a little of it...





Her little cheeks were as red as fully ripened tomatoes on a July vine, a product of the day's heat and her fear. She was scared and crying. She had already endured an emotional departure from her friends at the orphanage, her only home in her short little life, and then was subjected to her very first ride in a car. A ride that lasted way too long for her pleasure, the oddity of it completely outweighing the novelty. She cried and cried, as one of her favorite nannies tried to comfort her. By the time she arrived in Nanchang, her beautiful hair, adorned by sweet little bows placed lovingly by her ‘mommies’, was soaked with sweat. It was hot, hotter than any Alabama day I’ve ever endured, and there was no air conditioning anywhere it seemed. We were sweating before we even left the hotel that day.



We’ve already journaled how our usually, reliable electronic devices had responded with despair to the heat and humidity of Nanchang. Complete and utter refusal to perform their assigned tasks on a most important day, a trip to the China Center for Adoption Affairs in the provincial capital’s government affairs office to bring home God’s little angel, Lily Grace Xing Green. As disappointing as it is to not have pictures and video of the moment we first met Lily Grace, I believe it was God’s plan for it to happen this way. It forces us to try to remember every little detail, every word spoken and every look exchanged by a group of people, strangers before this day, yet now bonded by the love of a little girl named Jiang Yong Xing from Juijang City.



We will never forget the absolute love in the faces of the orphanage director and his assistant (both middle aged Chinese men) and the one nanny who had accompanied them on their journey to deliver an angel. Yet, the conversations and words of the day seem as far away as China itself is now for us. Maybe that’s because we were so absolutely in love with Lily Grace from the moment we saw her that we heard nothing but her cries for comfort and security, as she reached out to her new family and bid goodbye to her old.

Perhaps the strongest memory in my own recollection is watching Lily Grace’s mommy stare for what seemed like hours at her new sweet baby girl before reaching out and ‘snatching’ her from her nanny to comfort and soothe her hurts. Not that the nanny couldn’t do it herself, but it was now her new mommy’s joy and assignment. And then seeing Lily Grace begin to melt into her mommy’s arms and wrap her frail little arms around her, while I did my best to answer questions from the Chinese authorities about who we were and why we were there in the first place. Thank goodness for Sally. I remember Sally, the sweetest girl in China, helping us in those early moments with Lily Grace. Comforting her with soothing Mandarin tones and her funny little voice. Sally called her ‘the baby,’ over and over, though we certainly didn’t think of Lily as a baby, but more as a toddler. We would find out in the coming days, that Sally was right, Lily was still a baby, which was a great blessing to us and a key factor in her bonding with us, even before we left Nanchang.



I remember watching Austin, as he sat nervously in the CCAA chamber, wondering how his life had just changed and then watching him later in the hotel room, as happy as I’d ever seen him as he and Lily Grace became brother and sister. She fed him cherrios and laughed at him and he at her. They hugged and rolled on the carpet together as if they’d been separated at birth and now were reunited twins. I remember Granny and Memaw, with permanent smiles painted on their faces – I had often wondered how they would react to the ‘birth’ of a child unto them in a way not commonly experienced. And I saw in their faces many years of love headed Lily Grace’s way.



And I remember thinking on the way back to the hotel from CCAA what a wonderful day this was and hoping that I’d be able to remember everything about it. I remember as we returned to the hotel the staff and guests all stopping everything they were doing, just to see the new family. Smiles were the order of the day, some beaming, others more conservative, but there nonetheless. The faces of the Chinese staff of the Gloria who considered themselves our servants, but who were really our inspiration, were dripping with the one emotion, love, that is not claimed exclusively by any peoples on earth, but is shared among us all.



It seemed as if time were standing still as we made our way through the lobby of the Gloria and to the elevators. When we got there, there was an absolute stampede among those present to hold the honor of helping us onto the elevator and to our rooms. Even some of the other foreigners (there were no Americans) gave approving nods, accompanied by smiles of their own. I think it was all God’s way of telling us He was proud and happy in this moment. Seeing what He had been working on for a lifetime come to fruition in a moment frozen in time and recorded forever in the memories of those He privileged to be a part of His story, a story of adoption and of love. Happy Gotcha Day, sweet baby girl!









Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, and Lia Faith
Green, Party of Five