One less orphan

Tomorrow is our "Gotcha Day".  We will leave the hotel at 3:10 tomorrow afternoon to go meet Harper.  We will spend some time talking with the orphanage staff and then Harper will be ours forever!!!

While I am super excited to meet her, I am also worried about how she will handle this stressful time in her life.  We will be taking her away from all that she knows.  She's really never even been away from her orphanage and I'm sure she will be frightened.  The director of her orphanage will bring her on the 8 hour trip from Chaozhou City to meet us at the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou.  There will be many families there, all meeting their children for the first time.  It is a very hot (not air conditioned) building and is packed with people creating a very chaotic environment.  This excerpt from Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child by Patty Cogen probably sums up the way Harper will be feeling tomorrow.

You look around you.  You are in a remote place in the middle of what seems like nowhere in particular.  You have no maps or signs to tell you where you are.  Suddenly, you are surrounded by strangers, all of whom are overjoyed to see you.  These people smile, laugh, and talk loud and fast, and they act as if you can understand them.  They touch your hair, your face, and your shoulders, and they hug you repeatedly.  You notice they have a peculiar odor.  They dress differently from anyone you have ever met.  Their language is unintelligible and sounds like gibberish.  You have no clue how or why you are here.  You have no idea if you will find your way back to your former life.  You feel hands beginning to remove your clothing, and there, in public, these strangers dress you in new garments.  Some people appear to be assessing you, sizing you up, looking at your hair and teeth closely and noticing any moles or scars on your body.  You are given strange food and invited to play unfamiliar games.  You are handed a container of a strange liquid and encouraged to drink.  Everyone continues to laugh and smile and act as if this were a perfectly ordinary and normal situation.

Please pray for Harper.  It breaks my heart to think about her being taken away from the only "home" she has ever known, driven over 8 hours to a foreign place, and then handed over to three people who look nothing like her.  I am hoping and praying that her nannies and nurses at the orphanage have prepared her for the transition.  I am praying for her little heart, that God will comfort her in all of this transition, and that we'll be able to meet her needs during this stressful time.