A Day We Won't Forget

We won't ever forget today.

The day we met our children for the first time.

I cannot share their picture with you yet, so you will have to believe me when I tell you that we met 7 beautiful children today.

You could tell they felt like a piece of them was missing today with their middle brother not being there.  We will be meeting him next week.  We are less nervous about meeting him but just as excited.

I'm not sure what I expected today to be.  We've never experienced anything like this before.

Overall I would say it went very well.

For me, it was a roller coaster of emotions.

There were moments where I thought, "I am in love with these children.  Can we take them home with us today and start being a family?"

And then there were moments when I felt overwhelmed by it all.

Some of them are more outspoken than others.

Some of them are more affectionate than others.

They are all unique individuals and we look forward to getting to know each one of them.

We met the oldest boy first.  He had read our homestudy before meeting us.  He told Andrew he wants to be an architect and he wants to learn to play golf.

My heart about burst out of my chest at that moment.  

He and Andrew share two loves and immediately started talking about the projects they could do together and all the golf courses they could play together.

That connection put all of us at ease.

Then we met the youngest boy.

He is a ten year old little boy with LOTS of energy.

We took a few pictures with us to share with the kids and he just kept looking at them and looking at them.  He was soaking it all in.

He asked if we have a garden because he is good at watering things.

Maybe he can teach me how to keep a plant alive. :)

We met the two oldest girls next.  They were very quiet.  It was the only part of the day that was slightly awkward.  The oldest girl had a job interview this afternoon that we didn't know about.  She had a lot on her mind today.  

I would have been quiet too.

Next came meeting the other three girls.

(If you are keeping count that is 5 girls and 3 boys - one boy not being there today)

The youngest girl kept raising her hand to ask us questions.

She was very affectionate and gave us more hugs than we could count today.

Before we left she told Andrew to catch her.  She took off running and jumped into his arms.

SWEETEST THING EVER!

Questions they had for us...

*What do you like to do for fun?

*Do you have soccer teams where you live?

*When are you going to adopt us?

*What are your rules?

*Who will share bedrooms?

*Will we have cell phones?

*Do you want a cat?

*Do you have our phone number?

I'm sure they will think of more as they have time to process today.

It was a lot to take in for all of us.

After the initial introductions and meetings we all went to the dining hall to have lunch together.  They opened up a little more at lunch.  That is when they asked most of their questions.  The two youngest made sure they go to sit by Andrew and me. A few of them showed us a dance they had learned at church camp.  

We spent a little bit of time outside after lunch.  Andrew shot hoops with a couple of them for a few minutes, but it was a thousand degrees outside.

During this time we kind of sat back and just watched them interact with each others.  It also gave us an opportunity visit with two people who know them better than anyone else.  

Andrew and I left emotionally exhausted.  There had been a lot of anticipation leading up to today.  We feel very good about how today went.  I don't think it could have gone any better.

Our next step will be to meet the middle brother next week and then we will start having visits with them in small groups to get to know them.