Our Little Girl is Finally Ours (Gotcha Day!)

Our giving and receiving ended up being on Tuesday morning at 11:00. Our Holt guide (actually a social worker) meet us at our hotel at 10:00 in the morning and we went to the DOJ office (District of Justice, where the Hanoi Peoples Committee is) and arrived around 10:30 before Nien did. We waited inside but after a few minutes a woman came down and told our Holt SS that we shouldn't arrive early. So we went out and walked up the street and waited until a few minutes before 11:00 when he got a call that Nien and the orphanage staff had arrived and then we all went in "on time"! The giving and receiving was very formal but only took maybe 15 minutes. The woman who had told us we shouldn't have arrived early was in charge. She asked us if we understood that we would be responsible for bringing up and educating Nien until she was an adult and then had us sign a book that all adoptive families sign acknowledging what we had agreed to and we then were asked to stand in the front of the room stood along with the director from the center and were officially presented with our adoption decree. All the time Nien sat with the social worker from the center and cried quietly, again, although I sat next to her she wouldn't let me touch her. When it was over they told us we could then take her back to the hotel. I was very worried since up to that point we could not even touch her without her becoming even more upset. I was very relieved when our SS said that the center staff would be happy to return with us to the hotel to make it easier on Nien. They were so kind to her. We all returned (7 of us in all) back to our hotel room. Nien walking in between the center SS and director. When we got into our room they showed her around while she cried harder and harder. I pulled out some toys and we sat her on the bed with them, surrounded by several of us. We got her settled down to a quiet cry and one by one each of our "guests" quietly whispered to her (I'm sure they told her good-bye and to be a brave girl), and then left. She cried harder and harder as each left. When all were gone I was able to pick her up and she clung to me as if for dear life. Arms and legs wrapped tightly and fist clenched to shirt. We knew she hadn't had lunch so Elliott ordered some VN chicken noodles, rice, and fruit from room service (as close as the hotel had to her normal lunch, much fancier I'm sure). She was not interested in eating at all but instead I just held her until she finally cried herself to sleep. She slept for maybe an hour and a half and when she woke up she was a different girl. Quiet but much calmer. She came right to me and again clung on. We took out color crayons and coloring books and played with the Polly Pockets we had taken out earlier, and her dollie (we gave her that at the party the day before). I got her to go in the bath room and go potty. The only thing she would not do is take off her jacket. After a while, we had a ring at our door and they wanted to clean our room, so we changed her clothes, but on our shoes (and of course winter coat since it is all of 65 degrees here) and went out exploring. We then came back into the hotel and sat in the lobby area where they serve drinks and food and had a drink. We got her an apple juice and she drank it right down quickly. We ordered her a second one. She sat on my lap and we played with her new toys (we had to put everything in her backpack and she had insisted we took it with us when we left our room.) There were a few times when she got worried and clung to me but she relaxed more and more as each hour went by. She really seemed to enjoy watching Elliott but didn't want him to hold her at first. Finally after walking and exploring the hotel for a few hours she let him pick her up. We came back to our room and continued to play. Eventually I took into the bathroom and had her go potty again and gave her a bath. She seemed angry with me and kept repeating something (I think she was trying to tell me she already had a bath this morning) but we were just trying to follow the schedule Holt gave us. She didn't fight, just had grumpy look and kept saying the same thing, over and over. We got her dressed again and thought we would go out for dinner but then it didn't seem like a good idea take her out again. So we just stayed in room and played. Elliott watched a little TV but we couldn't find any children's programs on it. Eventually I warmed up the left over noodles and rice from lunch (using hot water from our in room tea pot) and she let me feed her that and she ate some fruit. I put her in her new pajama's (from Grandma Von Feldt) and tucked her into the middle of our king size bed and layed down with her, Elliott on one side and me on the other. We were all asleep by 8:15! It is now 2:30 in the morning and I am writing this in the dark while the two of them are fast asleep. At 1:30 this afternoon (Wednesday) we will apply for her passport. Our departure home will depend on when we receive that. It could come in a matter of a few days or take up to ten! All around us they are getting ready for TET (the VN new year) so hopefully they will want to get their business done and we'll get it on the sooner side of things!


Overall, I guess the day went better then I expected and she already has us wrapped around her finger.